Bill Gates' house
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Gates' house is a large earth-sheltered mansion in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina, Washington. The house is noted for its design and the technology it incorporates. It is nicknamed Xanadu 2.0 [1].
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[edit] General
The house is a modern design in the Pacific lodge style, with classic features such as a large private library and a big dome-shaped room. The house occupies 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) on a 5.15 acre (2.1 ha) lot. Garage space and outbuildings may occupy an additional 16,000 square feet (1,500 m²). Property records indicate eight bedrooms, 25 baths, and four building levels. According to King County public records, as of 2005, the total assessed value of the property (land and house) is $136,617,000 and the annual property tax for 2006 is $1,012,321.[2] The address of the mansion is 1835 73rd Ave NE, Medina, WA 98039.
The lot was purchased in December 1988 for $2 million, and construction occurred over a period of seven and a half years with nominal completion in 1995.[3] The house is located on the east end of the lot, which is located on a hill.
Gates often entertains the rich and powerful at his home. Once, when Bill Gates had a private party for the National Governors Association at the house, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a "temporary security zone" around Gates' Lake Washington home which locked down all of Lake Washington south of the Highway 520 bridge and stayed in effect for two days.[4]
[edit] Features
- A 17 × 60 foot (5.1 × 18.2 meter) swimming pool.
- An underwater music system and a fossil-motif floor. There is also a glass wall which can be divided.
- A locker room off the pool has four showers and two baths.[5]
[edit] Construction
- The number of building permits needed completely overwhelmed the Medina city clerk's office, necessitating the purchase of a computer-based document management system.[6]
- The house was designed by James Cutler of James Cutler Architects and the architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Bill Gates's stately pleasure dome and futuristic home (11/23/97).
- ^ 1835 73rd Ave NE, Medina, WA 98039. Zillow.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-20.
- ^ The Gates "Ecology House". Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- ^ Homeland Security works door at Gates' party. CNET.
- ^ Pool building part of a U.S. News feature on the house [1]. Retrieved on October 4, 2007.
- ^ Gates pushes hometown to Linux (1998-10-05). Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
- ^ Cheryl Weber, Dream teams: architects are partnering with other firms to win plum projects.(practice), Residential Architect, January 1, 2006. [2]Courtesy link, registration required Retrieved on October 4, 2007.
