Where the Billionaires Live

Well now...this was a great little project for a cold Chicago day! I have a nasty case of whatever flu is going around:P So, instead of walking down the road to take photos of insanely expensive houses, we drove...First up....I don't know a lot about this behemoth. I think it came with a price tag of $14 million? Husband kinda knows the guy who lives here. He once had a breakfast meeting at this house. It is well over 10,000 sq feet! Taxes on this bad boy...between 40 and 50 grand (I kinda make it a little hobby to look into crazy real estate, so my facts come mostly from web sites)Above is the atrium...and behind that is the guest house...It really is a crazy amount of space!

Next up...
I didn't even know this one had gone up! (like I could miss it) It is across the street and one door down from the other. Seriously people...does this look like a mini white house?!? Four houses were bought and torn down to make this. My photo doesn't even give you any where near how HUGE this house is...insane!

Now then, we used to walk by this house as it was being built. We nicknamed it The French Chateau. It is 20,000 sq feet. I have heard from an architect that the stone for the driveway was imported from France because the owner liked the way it sounded against the car tires...ummmm...OK. Oh, I did a little researching on the price tag, and found two different results...one said 20 million, the other said 40 million...either way, holy moly!!!

This to me is the most amazing house I have ever seen. I gotta tell you, as this was going up...I didn't get it. There were 5 lots bought to build it...to the tune of 7 million (that's just for the land!)
It is owned by arguably one of the riches families in Chicago. I think Husband may have met the woman once (I certainly don't run in this crowd)
OMG...look at the way the walls open into the patio! JUST. LOVE. IT!
This picture I swiped from the architects website...it's a side view from the private garden.
I keep telling Husband, with over 20,000 sq feeet, I think we could move in and no one would notice us;D
The funny thing is...the kiddos loved this project. The kept saying "Mommy is taking pictures of big big houses!" I have lived in the hood for over 15 years, so I knew exactly which houses I wanted to show you...but the kiddos kept pointing out the window and yelling "There is a big big house!"
What's more, when we got home they said "This is the new house" (they have called our town home the new house since we moved in) "the new house is HUGE!" I suppose it's not sq footage that makes the little ones happy;)

I think I'm gonna show you some pics of our humble town home...I gotta clean it first:P Perhaps by the end of the week;)

21 comments

  1. Good grief I think many families could move in and not be noticed. I have always wondered what kind of house you got with that kind of money.

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  2. I absolutely love snooping around in other people's real estate business. Hello, Zillow! Thanks for taking the photos. Great project!

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  3. What a fun project. Sorry to hear you ended up with the flu for us though.

    At some point house get too big to be called a home anymore. The first and third ones look more like libraries than houses.

    Looking forward to the next installment. But feel better first.

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  4. WOW! Look at those houses. They certainly are worlds apart from the homes I've been visiting here in Palembang.

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  5. I love looking at houses. Especially ones that are so not in my price range! These are beautiful! Wow!

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  6. You know I've always thought that these people should post how they became rich or what they do for a living on their front lawn, so that way we know how they got their money to build such a "house", (Wow,I miss that show "life styles of the rich and famous"). I just love the last one, like you it's all about the gardens, landscaping of these homes that catches my eye, and like the Biltmore Estates in North Carolina that is way too much house for only three people..

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  7. I received my eco products in the mail. Thank you!!

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  8. That last one you snapped - I LOVE LOVE the glass walls onto the patio too! And the night shot with the green art work to the left side. But the other two shots - exterior day shots - it looks like an office building. I'd be dumping another $10 mil into it to make the exterior more personal.

    I drive past some behemoths every day too, many with sale signs up. I've thought about checking to see how the prices on those bad boys have sropped. They are all still ridiculous, but I bet they are cheaper now.

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  9. I can only imagine a cold existance in those houses. If you had small children, you'd never find them! I do love the Biltmore Estate though.

    On a different note, I'm pretty sure my 3 girls could totally trash 10000sqft in under an hour!

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  10. Seriously. What in THE hell do you do with 20,000 square feet? I mean, I GUESS I could come up with something if I HAD to.
    ;)

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  11. I love looking at ridiculously enormous houses. I would never want one, but there are elements of the architecture and design that I most certainly would steal. Like, floor to ceiling glass overlooking a garden area. I would do THAT in a heartbeat.

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  12. The kiddos are absolutely the sweetest! They must love their big big home sweet home! This was very enlightening--living in the Houston suburbs, I had no idea.

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  13. Heh, we all now have our own Big City Peeper. ;)
    The hubs & I used to drive around looking at houses that were outrageous in both cost & size...we'd have the best time.
    Hope you're feeling better soon!

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  14. I love 'The French Chateau', so pretty.

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  15. Wow. You're right -- who would notice your family among 20,000 square feet of living space? And they're probably hardly ever home anyway.

    I feel sheepish because for some reason, I thought you lived in NYC. Or maybe you do and you're just looking at houses in Chicago?

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  16. I just love the tour. Can't wait to see your house.

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  17. places like this i can olny dream of lol but i must say thay are neet i have seen some of them when well i have came down to the windy city aka shy town . its a realy neet place to well go and see but if you dont know your way a round the place you can get lost. and that one house it kind of looks like a frank loyd right home

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  18. I love getting a look at how the other half lives, too, but geez... I feel kinda sick.

    I think I might be a socialist, after all.

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  19. I love the real estate tour! It's so much fun checking out other houses especially ones that I can't afford!!!

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  20. that sounds like a fun project. when my sister and i first moved to the city we used to drive around and look out the windows with our mouths open making comments like "we should have washed our car before driving into this neighborhood"

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