BRITAIN’S largest stately home in more than 100 years will be worth more than £100million – but critics say it’ll be abandoned before construction is finished.
St John’s House, inspired by The Great Gatsby, is set to be built on land in the Cotswolds worth £20m by itself.
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The extravagant 68,000ft mega mansion will come with more than 80 rooms and the equivalent floor space of 60 average family homes.
However, some say it will soon go the way of Hamilton Palace in Sussex.
That property, which is bigger than Buckingham Palace, was built by a notorious slum landlord once dubbed Britain’s youngest millionaire.
It was then mysteriously abandoned.
The £40m mansion remains empty and incomplete 35 years after work first began at the site. Locals previously told of their fury after the whopping building was left to rot.
Sotheby’s International Realty is currently auctioning off the 60-acre site for St John’s House, which stands on the edge of idyllic village Ramsden.
They say the property will fetch more than £100m when complete.
ABANDONED MEGA-MANSION
Plans for the build include an enormous master suite occupying the entire top floor, a grand ballroom and even an underground car museum built to house 50 motors.
The indoor sports complex will have a swimming pool, gym, leisure room, prep kitchen and bowling alley, as well as a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room.
Outside, the estate will have landscaped gardens, a tennis court and a second swimming pool.
Sotheby’s managing director Guy Bradshaw says it will become “one of the UK’s most private and significant homes”.
“It has taken over 20 years to secure comprehensive planning approval and we believe it will no longer be possible to build something of this stature in this location,” he said.
“If someone were to spend in the region of £50m on the build, they will have installed every conceivable security feature within the structure and the most spectacular interior finishes.
‘IT’S OBSCENE’
“This would make it not only the largest new home to be built in the UK for over a hundred years but also the only one built from the ground up.”
However, not everyone agrees.
One Twitter user shared the story of the derelict mansion in Sussex, writing: “Oh yeah? My tenner is that it’ll follow in the less than illustrious footsteps of [Hamilton Palace].”
Another replied: “I had the exact same thought.”
A third said: “It’s obscene when people in this country can’t afford food or heating.”
Another commenter hit out at the design, writing: “What’s so interesting about this is how someone could spend all that money to build something that looks like a 4* hotel.
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“Why wouldn’t you want to build something amazing if you had all that money?”
Others suggested the architect may not have read The Great Gatsby before starting work. The novel ends tragically with a murder and a suicide.
“Hey, how did that book end again?” one quipped.
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