Inside the 187-year-old, most expensive mansion on earth

Marble urns and benches decorate the lawn in private gardens at the Villa Les Cedre

Villa Les Cèdres boasts a swanky prime location along the coast of 

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Cote d'Azur

Villa Les Cèdres is a 187-year-old, 18,000-square-foot, 14-bedroom mansion set

 on 35 acres.

It also boasts as swanky prime location along the coast of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on 

the south of France.

Valued at over £300 million, the owner is hoping that the house’s location along with its 

unique history and luxury

 will be enough to make it the most expensive residential place in history.

It is currently owned by the Italian drinks company Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A.

Les Cèdres was built in 1830 and bought in 1850 by the mayor of Villefranche-sur-Mer,

 when it operated as an olive tree farm.

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Tropical plants surround a swimming pool in the private gardens of the 187-year-old villa

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The Mediterranean is seen from the bedroom terrace of the most expensive house in the world

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Luxury yachts can bee seen bobbing on the Mediterranean from the palatial balcony

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Palm trees stand beyond columns on a terrace at the 18,000-square-foot property

The mayor’s descendants sold the property to the Belgian King Leopold II in 1904, 

who, made stupendously rich by his colonisation of the Congo, expanded the gardens

that still surround the home.

The gates of the villa open to a long, winding path, flanked by towering palms and

the cedar trees (cèdres in French) that give the house its name.

A bronze statue of Athena, draped with a marble tunic, stands guard at the front entrance.

Inside, the vibe is decadent and slightly weathered, consistent with the estate’s Belle 

Epoque heyday: grand sitting rooms, chandeliers, French doors, and floor-to-ceiling

19th century portraits in ornate frames.

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Antique furnishings decorate on of the 14 bedrooms inside the Villa

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It boasts as swanky prime location along the coast of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the south of France

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Armchairs and tables stand beneath chandeliers as 19th century portraits in ornate frames adorn

the walls of a sitting room once used by royalty

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A framed photograph of Louis Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle sits on a table top in a

sitting inside the Villa

A wood-paneled library holds 3,000 books on flora and naturalism, including a 1640

edition of a botanical codex worth several hundred thousand euros.

The furnishings can also be bought with the home.

In 1924, 15 years after Leopold’s death, Villa Les Cèdres was acquired by the 

Marnier-Lapostolle family, industrialists best known for producing Grand Marnier liqueur, 

a blend of cognac and triple sec.

For 80 years the family cultivated the exotic plants that fill the manicured grounds.

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A pond sits in the private botanical gardens overlooking the Mediterranean coast

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The mansion is set on 35 acres of prime real estate over looking the Mediterranean Sea

According to chief gardener and conservationist Marc Teissier, it was in the orchards 

near the home that the family harvested bigarades, the bitter oranges used to flavor 

Grand Marnier.

Les Cèdres remained in the Marnier-Lapostolle family until 2016, when Campari 

acquired Société des Produits Marnier Lapostolle (SPML), Grand Marnier’s parent company.