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I know some of you _flossers must be house-hunting out there – you’ve still got a couple of months to get in on that tax credit! So I’m passing on a list compiled by Forbes writer Matthew Woolsey – it’s the 10 most expensive homes in the U.S. that are publicly for sale. That means a couple of the big ones (the Spelling Mansion, for instance) are out of play since they are privately listed. But I think you’ll be pleased with the ones offered for public sale.
1. Fleur de Lys, Beverly Hills, California. If you’ve ever wanted to live in Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles, you can – well, you can if you have $125 million you’re willing to part with (don’t we all?). It belonged to Suzanne Saperstein, the ex-wife of entrepreneur David Saperstein (he left her in 2006 to marry their nanny, in case you’re interested). There’s a 50-seat movie theater, a ballroom with frescoed ceilings, a nine-car garage and a library. Rumor has it that Mariah Carey recently made an offer on the mansion.
2. Tranquility, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This one is owned by Joel Horowitz. You’ve probably never heard of him, but you know the brand he helped found: Tommy Hilfiger. It’s 20,000 square feet and has a 3,500-bottle wine cellar, a 19-seat movie theater (how tiny) and, of course, an indoor swimming pool. It’s on the market for a mere $100,000,000.
3. Unnamed, Bel Air, California. Maybe it belongs to Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv? There are 10 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, so there’s definitely room for Will, Hilary, Ashley, Carlton and Geoffrey. There’s a 1,000-foot-long, 36-foot-high surrounding the property to keep Jazz out, and room for 20 cars in the garage. It’s a steal for $85 million!
4. Dunnellen Hall, Greenwich, Connecticut. Ah, the economic times have done sad things to the Leona Helmsley’s old house – it was selling for $125 million (the Helmsleys bought it in 1983 for just $9 million, including furniture) and is now listed at $75 million (scoop it up while you can! It’s a buyer’s market!). You not only get the 14 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, vaulted ceilings, marble floors, limestone walls and a 52-foot-long swimming pool, you also get the 40 acres of land it sits on. And it kind of has a cool name. Let it be known that if I ever manage to acquire a mansion, it will be known as Toad Hall.
5. Hummingbird Nest Ranch, Simi Valley, California. This $75 million house is for the well-attended buyer: there are 10 “staff houses” on the property. And forget the 20-car garage – this Spanish-style ranch has a 37 stalls to keep your thoroughbred horses (they are thoroughbred, aren’t they?). What’s really nice is that you won’t have to pay to have your own helipad installed – this house comes with.
6. Unnamed, Upper East Side, New York. For New York, this is enormous: 45 feet wide, six stories tall and 21,00 square feet of space. The space alone is probably worth the asking price of $75 million to some, but it also comes with a garden level, a library, a sauna, a home gym, six bedrooms, three staff rooms, a wine cellar and ten bathrooms. 10 bathrooms on six floors?! Does that seem a little unnecessary, or is that just me?
7. BootJack Ranch, Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I think I could get behind this one. It has also had its price slashed, from $88 million to $68 million. While it only has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, it has a 12,000-foot spa and aquatic center. Yes, please!! It also includes 3,100 acres of land. Not bad, and check out that view – gorgeous.
8. Unnamed, Brentwood, California. Lots of amenities here – a tennis court, a pool, a sauna, and apparently a den all decked out like a casino, complete with craps table! There are also 17 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and more than 22,000 square feet altogether.
9. Pickfair, Beverly Hills, California. If I had the money, I’d buy this one just for the history. And the ghosts. There have to be a lot of ghosts roaming around this place. It was building by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in 1919 and was one of the most luxurious houses ever at the time. As far as mansions go, I’m not sure that it’s anything too spectacular – gardens, a pool, fountains, etc. I’m telling you, it’s the ghosts that make this worth $60 million. Yes, I am a dork.
10. Unnamed, Upper East Side, New York. Ten thousand square feet, five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a deck on the roof, a living room with 26-foot ceilings and a skylight conservatory – that’s why this is going for $60 million. Haven’t you always wanted to say you have a conservatory? “Hello, good to see you, we’re just having some tea in the conservatory, it’s such a nice day. Won’t you join us?”
And, just for fun, the most expensive private residence ever built is due to be completed this year. Indian trillionaire Mukesh Ambani is having a billion-dollar house constructed that will include a six-floor garage to hold 168 cars, panic rooms, 600 servants and a 27-story mostly-glass tower with a helipad on top.
What mansion would you buy if you had the unlimited means to do so? I have to say, the Winchester Mystery House kind of speaks to me.
Comments (36)
Comment
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Aren’t you missing Bill Gates home?
posted by RobertSeattle on 7-17-2009 at 3:47 pm
#3 “There’s a 1,000-foot-long, 36-foot-high surrounding the property..” Would this be a wall? a net? a marshmallow?
posted by TC on 7-17-2009 at 4:23 pm
I wouldn’t buy any of them. I’d use that money to make the world a little better place to be.
posted by TXCherokee on 7-17-2009 at 4:28 pm
Robert…it’s not for sale, is it?
posted by Patten on 7-17-2009 at 4:28 pm
“There’s a 1,000-foot-long, 36-foot-high surrounding the property…”
That is some big ganja.
posted by Patten on 7-17-2009 at 4:29 pm
#7 – “…it has a 12,000-foot spa…”
Wow! You can fit 6,000 people in it?! 6,000 people, 2 feet each… ah, forget it!
posted by Jonny Hammersticks on 7-17-2009 at 4:29 pm
I wonder what the appraisal value of the White House would be.
posted by David on 7-17-2009 at 4:30 pm
The original Pickfair was rather spectacular – I think it had a copper roof – but it got torn down after it fell into disrepair. I don’t know much about the place that replaced it, but I’m guessing it’s not nearly as cool…
posted by Catherine on 7-17-2009 at 4:39 pm
I’d go for Dracula’s castle in Romania, I think it’s actually up for sale still too.
posted by GoF on 7-17-2009 at 4:45 pm
I wouldn’t mind living in the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, particularly if it included the golf course and other surrounding grounds. That would easily be mid-to-high nine figures, maybe ten.
posted by John Bejarano on 7-17-2009 at 5:08 pm
#6 “21,00 square feet of space” 2,100 or 21,000?
#9 “It was building by Douglas Fairbanks”. “Built”
posted by Di on 7-17-2009 at 5:19 pm
I’m not high minded enough to make the world a better place. But, I’m confidant that if I made this kind of bank our government would confiscate my fair share and keep building the social system. But I digress, how about several slightly smaller homes to keep my crap in while I travel from one to the next?
posted by jim on 7-17-2009 at 5:25 pm
Wait a minute!
How much is #8?
I’m not gonna buy a pig in a poke.
posted by MonkeyHawk on 7-17-2009 at 5:44 pm
I’d buy the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.
posted by Vickey on 7-17-2009 at 6:25 pm
Unlimited funds……? I think I would have to go for Blofeld’s crater lake space launch compound….. as long as the piranhas are still in the moat around his desk and the bridge still works.
posted by Andy on 7-17-2009 at 7:14 pm
I think these lists should go from least impressive to most impressive. They’re always great, but when you have a list of most expensive things, it should start with the tenth most expensive and end at the very most expensive! Build the excitement! I noticed this backwards-feeling structure last week on some other list, also. Just an idea.
posted by Janet on 7-17-2009 at 7:47 pm
I’d snatch up the Porcher-Simonds (sp?) house on the waterfront, downtown Charleston, SC!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charlestonhome.jpg
Really, I’d take any house on the east Battery – so romantic!
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/01/72/ec/the-historic-charleston.jpg
posted by Lynnie on 7-17-2009 at 10:25 pm
If I had unlimited cash and it were possible, my crazy ass would buy Buckingham Palace. It’s a bit small (well, it’s in the city) but it is SO centrally located that the smallish size of the building is fine. :-)
With my leftover cash, I’d buy Edinburgh Castle so I’d have a summer place to hang out in.
posted by Rachel on 7-17-2009 at 10:37 pm
I would buy Searles Castle in Great Barrington, Mass. It has 40 rooms, 36 fireplaces, a dungeon, a lagoon, (but no moat) tennis courts and a temple in the garden with two marble sphinx.
Mary Hopkins was the widow of a railroad tycoon. She had the castle built in 1888 and wound up marrying Edward Searles, the man who designed the interior, She died in 1891, but Searles kept the castle until his death in 1920.
I stayed there a bunch of years ago when one of the companies I did business with used it as a training center.
It was for sale 2 years ago for about $15mil. (What a bargain) Not sure if it was ever sold.
posted by Sue on 7-17-2009 at 11:14 pm
Villa Vizcaya in Miami. Right on the water. Beautiful gardens. Great place.
http://www.vizcayamuseum.org/photo-vizcaya.asp
posted by anotherfascist on 7-17-2009 at 11:40 pm
I’d get the secret island from The Incredibles. I’d have my own volcano!
Recaptcha: water swirl
posted by Brooklynfemale on 7-18-2009 at 8:05 am
Oh, wait, a *real* place? Highclere Castle in Berks., where the scenes for Totleigh Towers in the Jeeves and Wooster series was shot in the 1990s. They’d have to throw Stephen Fry in, too, of course, before I’d close the sale.
http://www.hha.org.uk/HHA/Property.aspx?id=935&vw=1
posted by Brooklynfemale on 7-18-2009 at 8:09 am
hey, how about pictures of all the houses? It would be nice to “see” how the other half lives.
posted by lee on 7-18-2009 at 9:03 am
What about the Biltmore house in Asheville? That has to be up there somewhere
posted by Tony on 7-18-2009 at 10:15 am
You missed the biggest mess of them all.
Ira renerts “house that killed the hamptons. Valued at over 180 mil.
posted by mikey b on 7-18-2009 at 10:27 am
I’ll take the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum as my summer home, and the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center for a winter home.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 7-18-2009 at 2:04 pm
If it were available I think that I would go for Hearst Castle…I also like the Winchester Mystery House.
posted by Addie on 7-18-2009 at 3:33 pm
At today’s prices–I’d buy the entire city of Detroit!
posted by Wayne on 7-18-2009 at 4:47 pm
@GoF – dracula’s castle isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. the doorways are small and everything feels very cramped. plus, it was all redone in the 19th century i believe by british royalty. you might want to invest elsewhere.
as for me, well, i am about all castled out these days, and most of them seem like they would make better hotels. but getting a few smaller ones and house-hopping periodically might be nice…
posted by Id on 7-19-2009 at 1:09 pm
If I had unlimited means, I’d build my own home. I’d also buy Mick Jagger’s house in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Gorgeous views!
reCaptcha: tongans $1 million
posted by AmyD on 7-19-2009 at 2:03 pm
Nah, you don’t want the Winchester House. The rooms are typically too small to do anything, the layout would get on your nerves after a while, plus there’s the fact that five feet past the house walls, there’s suburban sprawl everywhere. It’s a place that sounds cool but in reality isn’t all that great.
posted by That Jeff on 7-19-2009 at 4:44 pm
Hmm..I think if I had the cash, I’d build an earth-friendly home. None of these monstrosities are doing the earth any favours.
posted by Dawn on 7-19-2009 at 10:05 pm
I would’ve said Biltmore too, but it’s got no AC, so I’ll have to go with Neuschwanstein Castle.
posted by Jim on 7-20-2009 at 12:15 pm
i’m with you. i’d totally go for the pickfair estate for the ghosts of all the wild parties held there. what fun!
posted by Nathan on 7-20-2009 at 1:38 pm
I would have to go with Stan Hywet Hall near Cleveland. It was the home of the Seiberling family. F.A. Seiberling was the founder of Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Amazing house, lovely grounds and lots of good stories!
posted by kcwed on 7-20-2009 at 2:27 pm
You haven’t mentioned Avenue Princesse Grace in Monaco where price of per sq m is whopping $120000. Check this
http://bornforthebest.blogspot.com/2009/07/avenue-princesse-grace-worlds-most.html
posted by jenna on 7-21-2009 at 6:52 am