Biggest Houses In The World
Many people dream of owning big houses since more space means an opportunity to live a little more comfortably. Any family would, in fact, appreciate having a huge hideaway all to themselves. Even though for most people, a few thousand square feet of residential space would be more than enough, the super-rich would like to have at least 20,000 square feet of residential space.
Usually, such sprawling houses would contain at least two or three bathrooms, a dozen bedrooms, massive car garages, and even bigger swimming pools. Only a few houses out of these would actually qualify to be called the biggest houses in the world.
1. Istana Nurul Iman Palace – 2.15 million square feet
The palace in Brunei is the official address of the Sultan of Brunei. The meaning of the name is “Palace of the Light of Faith” and contains exactly 1,788 rooms. The palace can welcome 5000 guests in its banquet hall and has 18 elevators. The royal ponies have an air conditioned stable too, displaying the richness of the palace and the amount of detail put into it while building.
2. Antilla – Mumbai, India – 400,000 square feet
Mukesh Ambani, one of the richest in the world, owns a private house in Mumbai with six floors of parking area, private theatre, three helipads, spa, swimming pool and an outdoor garden as well. However, the Antilla is built by owning the site from an orphanage by substantially underpaying it and this has led to many ethical controversies on the Antilla.
3. Biltmore Estate – 178,926 square feet
The mansion in the Biltmore Estate is the largest of the privately owned houses in the United States. The Estate itself covers 8000 acres of land and is owned by the Vanderbilt’s. It is now a major tourist attraction found in Asheville.
4. The Tuscan Castle – 150,000 square feet
The Medieval castle east of Siena is known to contain more than 110 bedrooms and the castle is in inside of 1500 acres of land. The exact location of the castle is not unfolded by the Sotheby’s International who made this castle available for sale. However, they do promise that it is one of the rarest medieval castles with its own restaurant to be found in Italy.
5. Ira Rennert’s Mansion (Fairfield Pond ) – 110,000 square feet
The Mansion of Rennert in Hamptons has a 91-foot dining hall, elevating the gigantic nature of the place. The Mansion is built in a 63-acre field making it one of the expensive houses in America. In addition, the mansion has a “small” 164-seat theatre, basketball court, bowling alley, garage that can provide parking for 100 cars, etc.
6. Versailles – 90,000 square feet
The construction of the chateau began in the year 1623 (originally meant for lodging) by Louis XIII and was made into a palace by Louis XIV in several phases. It survived through the French Revolution and several renovations were done by Napoleon. Today, the Versailles stands grand as a tourist attraction with a number of art exhibitions.
7. La Reverie – 84,626 square feet
With a private tennis court and swimming pool, the mansion of Sydell Miller is the biggest mansion located in South Florida. There are many outstanding homes in Palm Beach Area, but the La Reverie stands out as the ‘magnificent one’ amongst them all.
8. The Pensmore Mansion – 72,000 square feet
The dream mansion of Steven T. Huff began in the year 2008 with a design that will make the mansion blast proof, fire resistant, tornado resistant and earthquake resistant. There is a lot of speculation around the mansion as Huff’s company provides software of agencies like CIA.
9. Xanadu 2.0 – 66,000 square feet
The world’s second richest man Bill Gates owns a house nicknamed Xanadu 2.0 in Seattle. Apart from the common luxuries one would expect from such enormous structure, the Xanadu 2.0 has an artificial stream and a 21,000-foot library which is the home for the work of Leonardo da Vinci – “Codex Leicester”.
10. Canada’s Mega Mansion – 65,000 square feet
Far North to Ontario, is the unfinished dream project of Peter Grant with unfinished flooring, wall coverings and bathrooms. The greatest asset of the Mansion is its boat house that can safely accommodate a 40-foot yacht. The Mansion also has elevators, 30-foot fireplaces, indoor pool, etc. with an industrial look from the outside.
11. Eric Levine’s Thailand Beach House – 64,580 square feet
Eric Levine, the founder of California fitness, owns a Thailand Beach House that includes a master bedroom of 5,380 square foot with a swimming pool. The lavish house also has a home gym with specialized place for yoga and 80+ gym equipment, bowling alley, game room, bar, 2-hole golf course, tennis court and a home theater as well.
12. Maison de L’Amitie – 60,000 square feet
Donald Trump is the proud owner of this 60,000 square foot house. He later sold the property to a Russian billionaire named Dmitry Rybolovlev. It boasts over 20 bathrooms and a garage that can house about 50 cars and an ocean view.
13. The Manor – 56,500 square feet
The Manor was originally owned by Aaron and Candy Spelling, who later sold it to Petra Ecclestone after Aaron’s death. This home is well-known for its grand central staircase that is said to imitate the one in the classic movie “Gone with the wind” and has about seven bedrooms in it.
14. Hala Ranch – 56,000 square feet
John Paulson, a hedge fund manager in the United States of America, purchased this sprawling property from Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan for about $49 million. In fact, it contains 27 bathrooms and 15 bedrooms. It is a self-sufficient house with gas pumps, reflection pools, a car wash, mechanic shop, and more.
15. The White House – 54,895 square feet
No introduction needed for the place that stations the President of the United States. The place acts as an active working place of the President and is also the official residence. The White House took 8-years to complete from 1792-1800, based on a design by James Hoban. There are many features added to it ever since and expansion took place constantly making it one of the largest houses in the world.
No expense has been spared in creating these houses. While these stylish houses are things you could live without, many have invested several millions of dollars in purchasing them. This is only a rundown of the biggest houses of the world. There are many others like this that have strange features in them.
