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This $250 Million Bel Air Mansion Is The Most Expensive House In The U.S.
The most expensive home in the United States is for sale in Bel Air, and it'll cost you $250 million.
It was recently announced that American Robotics, an institute founded by Carnegie Mellon University, will receive $250 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to form a robotics institute in Pittsburgh, according to TechRepublic. That's cool. That price tag, it should be noted, is also how much this single mega-mansion in Bel Air costs.
This experiment in extravagance was built by Bruce Makowsky, who built it "on spec" for some hypothetical bajillionaire. Makowsky made his fortune selling handbags, and now builds monstrosities just like this one for super rich people. He imbues his own tastes on each of them, telling the L.A. Times, "I live the life."
Makowsky described the home as a mega-yacht, but on land, adding that lots of billionaires spend more money on boats (which they seldom use) than they do on their homes. According to CNBC, 300 different people spent four years building this home.
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It doesn't look so much like a house as it does a compound. It is 38,000 square feet with 12 bedrooms, 21 bathrooms and three kitchens spread among four floors. It comes with a car collection worth $30 million and 130 pieces of art. There is an infinity pool with a bar that you can swim up to because what, are you going to get out of the pool and use your land legs to fetch a mimosa like some kind of plebeian? There's a bowling alley with a candy wall that dispenses treats in bulk, a fitness center, and a goddamn helicopter on the roof. The chopper doesn't even work, and would be totally useless in a situation where the zombies finally broke the wall. They just plunked it on top of the whole thing with a crane, like a cherry on a cupcake. The house even comes with your own humans: seven employees, whose salary Makowsky has paid for two years. The only thing this house is missing is a vault full of gold coins that one can swim in (and an anthropomorphic duck to go with it).
"There is no way anyone could have a bad day in this house," Makowsky told CNBC, which just sounds like a challenge to me.
The website for the home is comprised of a dramatic video that zooms in to the house from outer space.
Here's a video:
A previous Makowsky property was on the market for $85 million, and sold to Minecraft founder Markus Persson for $70 million cash, according to Forbes.
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