“I’ll Never Have To Leave The Neighborhood”

Is can’t be a coincidence that Bloomberg’s Upper East Side residence on 79th Street is within New York’s proposed congestion pricing zone while his 3,600-square-foot, uh, pied-à-terre in the London neighborhood of Knightsbridge is situated in that city’s actual congestion charging zone (.pdf), can it? Nah:

The residence Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg keeps here is not in the grandest house on the block. Spread over three floors of an attached red brick Victorian, the apartment overlooks a quiet locked garden in one of the city’s most exclusive precincts, where Ferraris and Bentleys roll past the boutiques of Hermès and Chloé.

But the apartment is a place of welcoming elegance, with artfully planted window boxes, heavy tasseled drapery and the warm glow of a chandelier highlighting gilt details on the ceiling. And Mr. Bloomberg, who has hardly been here since taking office in 2002, says he plans to spend more of his time enjoying it when he is no longer mayor.

Indeed, earlier this year, property records show, the mayor spent more than $7 million (3.5 million pounds) to extend his hold on the Cadogan Square property through 2113. Apartments in London are generally not sold, but are leased for decades.

Mr. Bloomberg’s visit to London over the weekend was for official business; he was meeting with Mayor Ken Livingstone and learning more about security and traffic measures in London that might work in New York.

But it was also a homecoming of sorts for the mayor, a lover of parties and art. He was honored at a buffet reception given by 100 friends at the prestigious Serpentine Gallery, on whose board he once sat. And it allowed him a rare night in the 3,600-square-foot flat, which once served as his platform for conquering the London social scene.

“It brings back a lot of memories,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Monday at a City Hall news conference here with Mayor Livingstone. “I said to Ken on the way over, ‘You know, after I finish this job I’m sure I will spend a lot more time in London because it’s exciting and they have great museums and nice people.'”

And nice digs. The mayor’s office declined to confirm details. But the apartment, with a spiraling, filigreed central staircase, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a drawing room, office and study, according to plans at Britain’s land registry, was decorated by Jamie Drake, who is known for exuberance and has festooned rooms for Madonna as well as for Mr. Bloomberg in his Upper East Side town house.

Those who have visited say the flat is filled with American art, including works by Andy Warhol and Henry Moore in addition to Jasper Johns. Mr. Bloomberg’s love of finery is also reflected in the mahogany doors and marble columns.

Like real estate on Mr. Bloomberg’s Manhattan block, East 79th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues, property on Cadogan Square is not cheap. Records from the real estate agency Strutt & Parker Lane Fox indicate that in 1997, the apartment cost about $5 million (2.8 million pounds) for a lease of about 26 years.

. . .

Talking to reporters on Sunday in Blackpool, where he had addressed delegates at the Conservative Party convention, he said of his New York home: “I get a haircut two doors away from these buildings, I live a block and a half away, my favorite Greek diner’s across the street. I’ll never have to leave the neighborhood.”

And you’ll have to pay the greenback equivalent of 8 quid to get in . . .