A London mansion opposite the Victoria and Albert Museum that served as the Panamanian Embassy and the home of ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn was released for sale Monday, with a price tag of £75 million (US$98.99 million).
Amberwood House, in London’s swanky Knightsbridge neighborhood, served as the Panamanian Embassy between the early 1930s and late 1990s. It was the home of Fonteyn, a prima ballerina assoluta (a now rarely-used title awarded to the most notable of female ballet dancers) with the Royal Ballet, during the 1950s and 1960s, according to a news release, following her marriage to Dr. Roberto Emilio Arias in 1955, who became the Panamanian Ambassador that same year.
More:18th Century English Estate to Be Restored into £100 Million Private Home
The three-story brick mansion built in 1928 is close to luxury department store Harrods and to Sloane Street, an exclusive shopping destination. The Embassy packed up and moved to its current headquarters in nearby Mayfair in the late 1990s and developers K10 Group—who are renovating the 15,300-square-foot mansion—acquired the building in 2011, the news release said.
More:Historic Dallas Estate Will Hit the Market for $18M
When the renovations are completed in 2019, the house will have five bedrooms, tall French and sash windows, ornamental balconies, a double height entrance hall with a grand chandelier, a grand room with three separate living areas, a cocktail bar and a dining area, a full-floor master bedroom suite and a club room with a cinema and another cocktail bar and a walk-in wine cellar with bespoke cabinetry. There will also be a basement with a spa, a pool, a gym and a treatment room, plus staff quarters.
Kam Babee, chief executive of K10 Group, described the house as a hidden gem in an ultra-prime address, calling it one of the "finest mansions in Knightsbridge."