Xanadu 2.0
Bill Gates's stately pleasure dome and futuristic home
What you won't see There is no space for live-in help, other than a nanny's room. Electrical outlets and phone jacks for T-1 lines are hidden. A network of service hallways, primarily for building maintenance, runs throughout the main buildings. Assume that security is extensive.
Guest wing The southern half of the main building, this wing contains the main entrance (with grand staircase), theater, library, formal dining room, reception hall, and conference facilities. It includes only two bedrooms. 3. Library Size: 2,100 sq. ft. The ornate, paneled library has a domed reading room with oculus (light well), fireplace, and two secret pivoting bookcases, one hiding a bar. It's the fitting home for Leonardo da Vinci's 16th-century notebook, the Codex Leicester, which Gates about for $30.8 million. 4. Grand staircase Size: 92 feet long, 63 feet high Towering Douglas fir beams support the stainless-steel roof and are surrounded by walls of glass, concrete, and stone. While much of the house is buried into the hillside, windows on the lakefront side provide views of Seattle to the west. There are 84 steps down from the entrance to the ground floor. The vertigo-inclined can take an elevator. 5. Theater Size: 1,500 sq. ft. The 20-seat art deco theater is outfitted with plush chairs, couches, and a popcorn machine. Screen is HDTV capable. 6. Formal dining room Size: 1,000 sq. ft. Up to 24 guests can dine by the fireplace while enjoying the sweeping view from the third level. Nearby commercial-grade kitchen is 39 feet by 23 feet. 7. Offices and meeting facilities Size: 1,900 sq. ft. Above the reception hall are rooms for conferences, offices, and a large computer room. 8. Reception hall Size: 2,300 sq. ft. Partly below ground, the reception hall can seat 150 people for a sit-down dinner or hold 200 for a cocktail party. A 6-foot-wide fireplace, faced in limestone, commands one wall. Another wall is dominated by a 22-foot-wide video display, made up of 24 rear-projection television monitors, each with a 40-inch screen. A second commercial-grade kitchen serves the reception hall. 9. Multipurpose room Size: 900 sq. ft. Formerly designated a gallery, this is now a multipurpose room, with a video projector included. Almost entirely underground, with a deck above, the room gets daylight from a large light well. Hallways connect it to the family and guest wings.
Other buildings 10. Guest house Size: 1,900 sq. ft. One bedroom, one bath, one fireplace Almost hidden underground, this high-tech burrow was the first structure built on the site (completed in 1992), as a test of the technology to be used in the design of the main house. Gates has used the house as a retreat; he wrote much of his book, The Road Ahead, here. 11. Underground garage Size: 6,300 sq. ft. This cavelike structure is the largest and best hidden of three garages. Built entirely underground of concrete and stainless steel, it can easily park 10 or more cars. Some of the concrete is purposely broken for a "deconstructivist" look. 12. Gatehouse Size: 3,000 sq. ft. Includes security offices, mailroom (with X-ray machine), greenhouse, and garage. The lower entrance to the property is here. 13. Boathouse Size: 530 sq. ft. This rustic log building's roof straddle a small inlet big enough for no more than a ski boat. An outdoor spa is nearby. 14. Activities building Size: 900 sq. ft. Adjacent to multisport court, putting green, and two boat docks. An existing home at this location was moved off the site by barge.
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