Michael Flatley had his eye on a seven-bedroom mansion in the Little Venice neighborhood of west London when he was searching for his first residence in the city in the 1997s.

The superstar singer was apparently caught off guard by the Irish-American dancer’s last-minute offer of an additional £500,000 for the Grade-II listed house, which led to a bidding war.

Park Villas Place, an Italianate-style building constructed in 1840, is ideally situated near a canal, but it also has a contentious background. The actress Lillie Langtry, who later became Edward VII’s mistress, resided there in 1877 and entertained her then-boyfriend, the Prince of Wales. To pay off her debts, she ultimately had to sell the house.

When the Lord of the Dance star took it on, he enlisted architect and interior designer Peter Inston to extend and revamp the villa.

The red silk wallpaper in the dining room, the imported French stone fireplace, the marble floors in the entry hall, and the upscale range cooker in the kitchen are all remnants of Flatley’s time there.

In order to use one of the bedrooms as a dedicated closet for his collection of hundreds of dancing shoes and sequined bolero jackets, the dancer also erected deep wardrobes in that bedroom.

Flatley entertained friends including the Irish football team and British royals at home, and the facilities were set up for hosting with a 14-seater dual aspect dining room.

 

The basement was turned into a leisure centre, with a swimming pool and gym alongside a mahogany-panelled club room complete with cocktail bar, cinema and card games area. A tiled mural of Flatley’s Irish home is still in situ in the pool area.

Flatley sold Park Place Villas in 2004. Now the three-storey Victorian villa is on the market for the first time in 20 years at £26 million with Aston Chase.

“The house has huge potential and a comprehensive refurbishment and the installation of the latest specification would create one of the finest trophy homes in London,” said Mark Pollack, co-founding director of Aston Chase.

“With its colourful Royal and celebrity backstory we anticipate significant interest in the villa from discerning buyers around the world.”

Park Place Villas includes a library, a turret and a rooftop terrace, with its own private driveway, double garage and off-street parking for two more cars. Flatley went on to work with Inston again to restore his historic home in Ireland, Castlehyde house, but the relationship between star and architect ended acrimoniously.

The star bought the 18th-century estate in 1999, but Castlehyde caught fire in 2016. Flatley bought in several contractors to restore the property, and last year alleged in the high court that they had failed to remediate toxic residue left by the fire.

Flatley and his family vacated the estate on health grounds, and the dancer is currently in remission from an “aggressive” form of cancer.