Clooney and Alamuddin via Getty
It looks like lawyer, activist, and author Amal Alamuddin and her actor husband George Clooney now own a 17th-century Georgian manor on a 5.5-acre private island in the English village of Sonning-on-Thames. Ever since the two were married at the end of September, rumors have been flying about a “luxurious, well decorated, and super-private” home they bought in Berkshire county over the summer. Now, the Real Estalker hears that they actually purchased their own hunk of rock in the river Thames, which was last listed at the equivalent of about $12M.
“Island in the stream / That is where they are / No one in between / Clooney and his wife” is how a Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton duet modified to be about this piece of property gossip might go. The couple’s rumored new home, the 8,948-square-foot, Grade II-listed Aberdash House, is no longer featured on UK property site Rightmove, but a cached listing shows a doric-columned 10-bedroom manor with a fully modernized interior.
According to an old Wall Street Journal piece about the property, it was purchased by a banker named Omar Bayoumi in the late ’90s, who was drawn to it by “the romance and exclusivity of owning the largest residential island in the Thames,” as well as “the beauty of the house and grounds.” To augment that beauty, Bayoumi filled it with a bunch of high-tech rich person stuff, including a gym, a “spa complex,” and an entertainment room outfitted with “invisible speakers and an iLight lighting system using John Cullen fittings.” (Fun fact: There are also 14 CCTV cameras installed throughout the property.) In its state of decoration, a very large portrait of a cat was displayed in the living room, which evidence that a complete house with wall hangings will look more attractive than a house with plain walls (more info, more details).
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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/10/13/george-clooney-buys-private-island-mansion.php