Described as a home “worthy of Silicon Valley nobility,” with the “ability to transport your guests to a world of medieval romance infused with modern luxury,” the “castle” which sits on a 3.3-acre parcel at 21449 Toll Gate Road in Saratoga has hit the market with an $8.988 million price tag.
Built in 1985 and having last traded hands for $4.9 million in 2003, the 7,100-square-foot home boasts an “astonishing” two-story foyer; a banquet hall with a wall of “throne-like carved seating;” a “breathtaking” library; an abundance of mahogany paneling; and plenty of otherwise contemporary fixtures and finishes.
The grounds include a guesthouse, swimming pool and a thousand-vine vineyard.
And the castle’s motor court leads to a porte cochère and four-car garage within the keep.
The folks in Silicon Valley by and large made their money by earning it, or at least by working for and holding large amounts of stock in companies that successfully took in (more) money from the U.S. stock market. They by and large didn’t inherit it with lands and title(s) from wealthy parents or other relatives as the term “nobility” implies.
Therefore, the notion of “Silicon Valley nobility” makes little sense but it doesn’t surprise me that a real estate agent would come up with this as a marketing peg.
This place will immediately mark the new owner as someone with a whole lot less taste than money, and for that reason I expect it to sell to a foreigner, perhaps a kleptocrat or family member of an oligarch of some sort, who is looking for secure assets in which to hide their ill-gotten gains squirrelled out of their home country, not a U.S. citizen who actually made money by working in the computer or information technology industries.
Definition of nobility
1: the quality or state of being noble in character, quality, or rank
Definition of noble
1a : possessing outstanding qualities…
3b : very good or excellent.
One doth implieth too much.
This is basically unsalable. Future home to theme weddings and airbnb parties. Or maybe the new home of kinks dungeon? The contractors building this home must have been laughing so hard. Sadly its really nice inside and well done, but the exterior is just tragic on every level.
Great location. Pity about the house
Not that great of a location unless you like to drive everywhere. Even though it is close to Saratoga Village as the bird flies the walk is not very short or pleasant.
You don’t buy this to walk around. It’s a great location for living in the hills near the redwoods. If you want a walkable house, this isn’t for you
Granted this is a good location if you want to live in a semi-rural setting but still have a reasonable commute to Silicon Valley.
Who doesn’t love a little kitsch? Emphasis on “little.” Kitsch is great as long as it’s not bigger than a breadbox. Hula lamp? Wall-mounted trout? Plastic Jesus on the dashboard? Fun! But to dwell within kitsch and pay $9 million dollars for the privilege? A circle of hell…
If you could somehow “de-castle” the outside…
Never underestimate the power of vinyl siding…
I’m bored enough to have found & visited the listing. The word “granite” appears in reference to the kitchen. I didn’t see “stone” anywhere. Or “styrofoam” either. Just sayin’.
[Editor’s Note: Seeing as how the listing is linked in our fist sentence above, hopefully it didn’t take you too long to find.]
Unfortunately it did. I looked between the last picture & the comments. Where the links were during my 1st visit in ±2010. My fashion “sense” is even further out of date.
Awful.
Paint it White and sell hamburgers. Looks like it already has a drive through.
Someone needs to buy this place, extend the “stone” to the ground on the wing to the left thus hiding the support columns, and make the drive-through arched.
Then flip it.
Aye carumba! Mis ojos son enfuegos!
I could certainly see the President in this sort of edifice. A western White House perhaps?
Certainly not. Donald the teetotaler shouldn’t be anywhere near a vineyard. He should be in a “dry” town like Saddle River, New Jersey.
So much seriously wrong with this from an architectural point of view: materials, clash of materials, details, scale, mashing of “styles and periods”, truly hideous stone work.
It’s like they hired the manager of the furniture department at WalMart.
Home office of Round Table Pizza Corp. circa 1979.
Is there a dungeon and are there dragons?
Now I’m in the market for a $9 mil castle, but without a moat or drawbridge I’m going to have to keep looking.
The outside is hideous. Never, never, never use a material in an implausible place, like the stone suspended over the driveway. Stone is heavy. It sits on the ground. It doesn’t get suspended in the air, unless its part of an arch.
A similar peeve of mine are “stone columns” that have feet not anchored on the ground. It completely blows whatever suspension of belief that remains in the artifice.
There’s a certain ethnicity common among Silicon Valley “nobility” to whom this gaudiness seems to appeal. The $9M price tag not so much.
New York Times Magazine last week. Fascinating article on the massive mansions scattered about by a clan of bankers.
I’m putting the over/under at $6.5 million, assuming a sale and close before the end of 2017, which in this case is a questionable assumption.
As my sole and admittedly out-of-the-area “comp”, Eagle Castle Winery down in the Paso Robles “wine country” area, which had a similarly-themed main building as an event center (and which was complete with moat and drawbridge) was on the market for 20 months before entering escrow.
It would be like living in Michael Jacksons new and improved cheap amusement park type house!
I’m not sure if “disgusting” or “insane” is the right adjective. There has to be an interesting back story.