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] (Seattle Weekly reports the 2008 tax jumped to $1.063 million and the home's assessed value to $147.5 million).[3] 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.[4] 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.[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. Ironically, the city used a variation of Linux to meet this demand.[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.
- ^ Taxman Cometh. Seattle Weekly.
- ^ The Gates "Ecology House". Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- ^ Homeland Security works door at Gates' party. CNET.
- ^ 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. [1]Courtesy link, registration required Retrieved on October 4, 2007.
