Petra Ecclestone sells largest home in Los Angeles

Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone has sold the largest home in Los Angeles for a record-breaking £95 million.

Petra bought the home, known as The Manor, for £67.5 million ($85 million) in 2011, and has since given the property an eccentric make-over, overhauling many of its staggering 123 rooms – even adding a nightclub in the basement and several large tanks filled with exotic fish.

The daughter of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, originally listed the 56,500-square-foot chateau in Holmby Hills for sale in 2016, adjusting the asking price twice before a suitor was found, but details of the sale is yet to be published. A source told the Los Angeles Times that the purchase was a ‘done deal’.

Petra won’t be moving too far away, with records showing that she recently bought a new mansion for £18 million ($22.7 million) just a few miles west of Holmby Hills, in Brentwood.

It comes just weeks after Petra – who was married to James Stunt until two years ago and went through a torrid divorce – was pictured on her hen-do as she prepares to marry car salesman Sam Palmer.

Located in Holmby Hills the sprawling 56,500-square-foot chateau has become the most expensive home ever sold in LA County

Petra was granted a divorce in 2017 after a bitter legal fight over their £5.5 billion fortune, with the couple’s assets including a £100 million Chelsea mansion.

Petra, who has three children with Mr Stunt, moved to LA from Chelsea in 2018 to get a fresh start and leave her marriage woes behind.

In an interview with W Magazine about the property, the heiress said: ‘I was living in an apartment before, in London, so it’s a change. That was 5,000 square feet. Then I moved into our other house in London, which was 20,000 square feet.’

She added: ‘I know that the house is huge, and yes, it really is quite overwhelming, but with the other houses we looked at that were a similar size to this, you felt like you were in a museum. ‘

She moved into the sprawling 56,500-square-foot chateau, known as The Manor, but insisted on an extensive refurbishment.

The previous owner had a bowling alley, a room dedicated specifically to cutting flowers and even an entire climate-controlled chamber for storing silver, in the property.

The house also included a barbershop, multiple gift-wrapping rooms, and a French wine and cheese room, complete with French music and side-walk tables.

But Petra was not a fan of the decor and embarked on a huge redesign that took more than nine weeks and required 500 workmen.

Luke Kenton