The 10 Biggest Homes in the World, and Who Owns Them

--By Sushma Pradhan

Home is where the heart is, gone are the days when one dreamt of a house with a cozy little fire place, a little corner for study, a welcoming living room etc. Today stands for those who challenge to be who’s who in the world of towering concrete structure. What do we call them palace? Bungalow? Or World’s expensive homes? It has always been a fantasy of a common person to fathom how and where these richest men of the world lived and how they live?

Here we have taken ten homes of the world’s top towering personalities. In other words to say, we have a list of ten homes of the billionaires in this planet.

1. Bill Gates, Medina: Bill Gates is world’s riches man, therefore forms the first choice in the list of homes too. The home of Bill Gates, located in the suburb of Medina, is a 21st century very modern house, well equipped with hi tech electronic systems in every corner.

The house is a huge earth-sheltered, overlooking lake Washington. It has a large private library  and many unique qualities, for example, the lights turn on automatically once home, the wallpaper are designed to allow the music follow you from one room to other. There are portable touch pads, which controls everything, from lights to room temperatures.

The house of Bill Gates according to National Association of Home Builders is a little more than 2,000 square feet. However, the assessed value of the total property stands at $113 million. 

2. Warren Buffet, Omaha: He is the mastermind behind the Berkshire Hathaway, the person who stands second in the list of the richest people in the world.

He still resides in the modest home at Omaha house. The estimated value of the house is around $700,000. Buffet has been living more like a millionaire than a billionaire.

This gray stucco home is a expanse of 6,000 square feet and it has been with Warren Buffet ever since he bought it at $ 31,500 in the year 1958.

3. Lakshmi Mittal, London: The third richest man in the world set a record when he paid $128 million to a Formula One racing’s Bernie Ecclestone’s townhouse.  A mansion that is placed in-between the landed property of Sultan of Brunei and Kensington Palace. This posh locality better known as the Billionaire’s row now include Lakshmi Mittal’s residence too. This mansion can boast of garage that can accommodate 20 cars which is embellished with marble that have come from the same quarry as that for the Taj Mahal.

This Steel Magnate formed Mittal Steel in 2004, the largest steel producer of the world, by combining Ispat International and LNM holdings.

He is supposed to have another home in London and in few metropolitans of the world. 

4. Larry Ellison, Woodside: With net worth of $18.4 billion, this oracle co-founder tycoon lives in Woodside. Ellison styled this estate after imperial Japanese architecture. This marvel has man-made lake and seismic retrofit extensively as per the latest technology.

Ellison is quite known to make drop jaw deals on property, and one such expensive residential transaction happens to be the Malibu’s five beachfront properties, which he purchased to create custom compound.

5. Michael Dell, Austin: Born in Houston, Texas, this founder and CEO of Dell Inc. Dell had attended University of Texas at Austin with every intention of becoming a physician, but destiny had something else in store for him instead he came into the world of computers. While still at the university, in Dobie Center, his room he started with PC’s Limited a computer company. Ever since, he has never said bye to this place because it is here he also later started his eponymous company dealing with computers.

Today, he lives in a 30,000 sq foot mansion, an estate, which is perched upon a hilltop at Austin and supposedly, Dell spent millions of dollars in late 1990 building the huge mansion.

The towering property of this possession of Dell is estimated to be more than $18 million.

6. Sumner Redstone, Beverly Hills: The multi billionaire, Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone the unsurpassed king of the media world is the controlling shareholder of CBS Corp. and Viacom.

The media tycoon supposedly spent around $15 million for this mansion. His estate exclusively spreads across Beverly Park in Beverly Hills. The sprawling prize was once the possession of Sylvester Stallone and now it measures around 15,000 square feet and comprises of three bedrooms, a gymnasium, a screening room, a tennis court, a billiards room, and an outdoor pool.

Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, and Paul Reiser happen to be the famous next-door neighbors of the gated community.

7. Michael Bloomberg, New York: The New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused the mayoral estate Gracie Mansion as he felt the Mayoral estate did not meet his standard of luxurious mansion.

The Bloomberg townhouse built in 1889 stands tall with five floors. The area covers 7,500 square feet in total, which includes the extra area that Bloomberg purchased later to expand and enhance his dining space. Bloomberg purchased this property for $3.5 million in 1986, but the City records claim that the market value of this mansion at present is more that $7.50 million.

8. David Geffen, Beverly Hills: Call him a philanthropist, a film producer, a theatrical producer or a record executive, David Geffen is all these and much more. But, one thing that is there is all the facets is that he is a billionaire and lives in a home that stands out from the rest.

This emperor of the music world made the world’s eye nearly pop out when he paid $47.5 million for the hundred-room mansion.  This house includes sprawling gardens, fountains and a three-hole golf course.

9. David Koch, New York: David James Koch is an Australian television personality and a financial commentator. At present he co-hosts a popular television morning program called the Seven Network’s Sunrise.

Last year, Koch bid $17 million for a eighteen duplex in 740 Park Avenue to list into his share of property and make a mark amongst the opulent houses of the world. This building with seventeen storeys is one of the exclusive buildings of Manhattan and a sure pride of the billionaire, David Koch.

10. Steve Jobs, Woodside: He is known to be the brain behind Apple, and the owner of the 17,000 square foot mansion built in 1926. This building, which was designed by architect George Washington Smith, is more of a fantasy for others than the owner himself. There were actions taken by Steve Jobs to demolish this mansion and instead build a smaller house, but the objections from Preservationist have put a halt to Steve Jobs idea.