March 8 (Insider) – Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, and his family live in a fittingly opulent 27-story tower on Mumbai’s most exclusive street.
Named the most expensive private residence in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, the Ambanis’ house apparently requires a staff of 600, has three helipads, and features a movie theater that can seat 50.
Dubbed Antilia — the name of a mythical island off the coast of Europe — the interior of the building has been rarely photographed.
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Business Insider compiled everything we know about Antilia, the Ambani family home.
The Ambani family caught the world’s attention this month with pre-wedding festivities for son Anant that included a private Rihanna concert and meals prepared by 100 chefs.
Reliance Industries/Reuters
High-profile guests, including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, flocked to Jamnagar, India, to toast the marriage of Anant, whose father, Mukesh, is reported to be worth $113 billion.
Mukesh and Nita Ambani have three children: Isha and Akash, who are twins, and their younger brother, Anant. It’s unclear who lives at Antilia full-time, though the Huffington Post reported that the home required a staff of 600.
Reuters
Mukesh Ambani is the chairman of the energy, retail, and media conglomerate Reliance Industries and is considered India’s richest man. The tower he custom-built sits on Altamount Road, the Billionaires’ Row of Mumbai.
Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
The Ambani family’s home is the most expensive private residence in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. (Other rankings put it second, after Buckingham Palace.)
Ashwin Nagpal
The 400,000-square-foot structure is officially 27 stories high, although its many double-height ceilings mean it’s closer in height to a traditional 40-story building.
Wikipedia Commons
The Ambanis’ house cost an estimated $1 billion to build and was constructed between 2006 and 2010, according to Architectural Digest India. It’s named after a mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters
The tower contains a 50-seat cinema, a full-service spa and health club, and three helipads. The lobby has nine elevators, and the garage can fit 168 cars.
In 2011, The New York Times reported Mumbai’s elite were speculating that the Ambanis hadn’t yet moved into the tower. Antilia, one expert said, didn’t align with Hindu architectural philosophy.
In 2020, Vogue India cataloged some high-end art inside the Ambani house, including work by the modern Indian artist Francis Newton Souza and the “Love” sculptor, Robert Indiana.
In January, the Ambani family hosted a light show at Antilia to celebrate the consecration of a new temple in Mumbai. Holograms of religious sayings adorned the building.
Visitors flocked to see the bedazzled tower and get close to one of India’s most iconic homes.
Antilia’s opulence has drawn criticism. In 2011, Ratan Tata, another one of India’s richest men, told the Times of India: “It’s sad because this country needs people to allocate some of their enormous wealth to finding ways of mitigating the hardship that people have.”
