Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has purchased a historic riverside mansion, once owned by novelist “George Eliot” (Mary Ann Evans), in the Chelsea neighborhood of London for $26 million.

Though the mansion was listed for $US23.4 million, it was eventually purchased by Bloomberg for $US26.5 million after a bidding war broke out among interested parties, according to the Daily Mail.

The mansion is a historic, preserved building that sits along the River Thames and can only be accessed by a private road.

The mansion was built in 1715 and includes a massive, statuesque staircase. A Baroque mural — painted by Sir James Thornhil, who also decorated the dome at St. Paul’s Cathedral — adorns the ceiling.

The seven-bedroom mansion also includes a large garden, vaults, a lift, original parquet floors, panelling and intricate cornice work, murals and marble fireplaces.

It’s not Bloomberg’s first London home – he also owns a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in the pricey Cadogan Square area of Knightsbridge.