Inside the former Italian embassy bought as £20million Belgravia bolthole by wife of China’s richest man

This is the magnificent London mansion bought by the wife of a Chinese tech billionaire for almost £20 million.

Photos obtained by the Daily Mail reveal the incredible wealth inside the former Italian embassy, ​​which is undergoing a multimillion-pound refurbishment to become a six-bedroom mansion.

The 7,692-square-foot house in Belgravia, one of the capital’s flashiest neighbourhoods, has six en-suite bedrooms, including a 520-square-foot master suite, a cinema room in the basement and an elevator to transport guests between six floors.

Located in a gated residential area, this property has state-of-the-art security features, including secure underground parking for two cars, two safes and separate accommodation for one staff member.

New owner Cathy Ying Zhang, who is married to retail giant Alibaba founder Jack Ma, paid £19.5 million last October for the house after it was listed for £21.5 million, receiving a £2 million discount, according to Land Registry documents.

The deal is one of the biggest house sales in London since Labor came to power last year and comes despite a recent slowdown in super-premium properties following the removal of non-dom tax status and fears of wealth and mansion taxes.

But when the Daily Mail visited the redbrick house in Lygon Place, a terrace of eight Grade II-listed townhouses, locals didn’t seem too wise about their moneyed new neighbours.

Among them was Adam Delmaestro, owner of the Maestro cafe on the corner, who said most Lygon Place residents had actually moved out ‘thanks to taxation’ and only one or two remained.

Photos obtained by the Daily Mail reveal the incredible wealth inside the former Italian embassy

‘It affected my work,’ he said. ‘Residents do not have to come here in person, but they hire people who will benefit from our services, a driver, groundskeeper or nanny.’

Another shopkeeper in the area was similarly unaware of Ms Zhang’s arrival but said he thought the resident next door to her new home had moved in recently.

Despite being in the heart of London, just a stone’s throw from Victoria train station, the area was quiet as every building was tightly controlled with substantial CCTV monitors, sophisticated doorbell cameras and intercoms.

The sprawling Lygon Place property was completely deserted, as was the private barn opposite, with only a flashy blue Land Rover and a work van in the wide driveway.

The only sign of life was at the concierge on the terrace; staff were friendly and polite but declined to comment.

A man who lived on a side street lined with stucco-fronted houses said he knew Jack Ma but knew nothing about his wife moving nearby.

‘As far as I know it’s completely full. “Before I moved to Monaco, a friend of mine lived there,” he said.

Another woman, who lives on the road overlooking a smart, leafy square, said she heard about Ms Zhang’s move on Instagram but not locally or in person.

Meanwhile, his neighbor said through the intercom, rather than at the door itself, that he knew nothing about the movement.

‘This isn’t a very neighborly area,’ said one elderly resident: ‘When the flu was going around, neighbors across the road came to check if I was okay.

‘I thought that was very sweet and they asked me to come over for coffee sometime. ‘I put a piece of paper with my number on their door, but I didn’t get a response.’

The latest sale marks the first time the property has hit the open market since it was bought by Benito Mussolini’s fascist government in 1923.

Photos of the inside of the home show a checkered marble floor, a guest cloakroom and a grand central staircase around an artistic chandelier.

The house also has a reception room on the ground floor and a guest room and dining room on the first floor, all with parquet floors and wood paneling.

The master bedroom takes up the entire second floor, with two dressing rooms and a giant marble bathroom with twin sinks.

There are five remaining bedrooms on the top three floors.

Pictures of the home’s interior show checkered marble floors, a guest cloakroom and a grand central staircase around an artistic chandelier.

The master bedroom occupies the entire second floor and has two dressing rooms.

The house also has a private courtyard garden (pictured)

The basement contains a cinema room (pictured), fitness studio and staff quarters.

The latest sale marks the first time the property (pictured) has hit the open market since it was bought by Benito Mussolini’s fascist government in 1923.

After the war, Lygon Place was used as the embassy office of the Italian defense attache, the diplomat representing the country’s armed forces, for 60 years.

The house also has a private courtyard garden and the basement contains a cinema room, fitness studio and staff quarters.

It’s just a few minutes’ walk from Buckingham Palace and less than a mile from Sloane Square.

The embassy-turned-terrace on Ebury Street was designed and built in 1900 by architect Eustace Balfour in the Arts and Crafts style.

Count Dino Grandi, Italy’s wartime ambassador to London, hosted Prince Edward and his wife Wallis Simpson there before he became King in 1936.

In addition to suspected Nazi sympathizers, the diplomat also welcomed fascist politician Oswald Mosley and his wife, writer Diana Mitford, to the embassy.

Former Prime Minister David Lloyd George was among the count’s guests, whose efforts to broker peace between Italy and Britain were thwarted by Mussolini, who brought him back to serve as justice minister for the remainder of the war.

After the war, Lygon Place was used as the embassy office of the Italian defense attache, who was the diplomat representing the country’s armed forces for 60 years.

A real estate developer bought the building in 2006 and converted it back into a home.

But the area is still linked to espionage, as the house next door is the home of Sir Reginald Drax, a former school friend of British admiral and James Bond creator Ian Fleming, who himself lived in nearby Ebury Street.

Fleming used Drax’s name for one of his memorable villains in his 1955 novel Moonraker.

Drax’s home with an underground swimming pool is up for sale in 2022 for £45 million.

House prices in the capital fell by 4 percent last year, according to Knight Frank; this was the steepest decline since February 2021.

Star Wars director George Lucas bought a £40 million mansion in St John’s Wood, north-west London, in September.

Meanwhile, fashion designer Tom Ford bought an £80 million stucco-fronted mansion in Chelsea last year, before Rachel Reeves increased the stamp duty surcharge on second homes.

Mr. Ma and Ms. Zhang are building a world-class property portfolio.

Last year he bought three adjoining properties in Singapore for £26 million and is listed as the sole shareholder of a company buying a chateau in France, according to the Financial Times.

They met at Hangzhou Normal University in the 1980s.

Mr. Ma founded Alibaba, the world’s second-largest e-commerce company after Amazon, in 1999.

Today his fortune is estimated at £35 billion.