A Mumbai Billionaire Wanted An Insane Mansion So He Bought The American Embassy For 113 Million
Poonawalla recently purchased the building that up until four years ago served as the US consulate in Mumbai, India (the consulate is now in another, more contemporary area of the city) for a cool $113 million – a price that happens to mark the highest ever paid for a private residence in India. Of course, that price tag isn’t just a result of the building’s former governmental functionality. Before it became the United States consulate in 1957, it was the palatial seaside mansion of the maharaja of Wankaner, who enjoyed its 50,000 square feet from its construction in 1938 until 1947, when tax hikes forced him to sell his palace to the US....