20. Park Place – $160 Million
We flip back to the UK—specifically, to the village of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire and the famous estate of Park Place. Once owned by a member of the royal family, Park Place is lavish, historic, and absolutely stunning.
Located on 200 acres of parkland and woods, the home has gone through many evolutions over the years—it was once a boarding school, of all things. Described as a Renaissance-style home, with ten bedrooms each having an en-suite bath, the 30,000 square feet of living space is decorated in the most lavish style the 18th century could offer: a barrel-vaulted Grecian-style grotto, ornate stained glass, and graceful stone walls define the space within in a timeless manner. The outbuilding includes stables, a boathouse, and guest buildings. And unlike most of the houses on this list, Park Place features its very own ghost: Mary Blandy, who was accused of poisoning her father back in seventeen-fifty-something.
So who owns this place—it is one of the most expensive homes in the UK, after all? Well, it’s our old friend Roman Abramovich, who apparently needed a little more room than his London mansion could offer and paid well over 200 million dollars for the joy of life at Park Place.