Bill Gates isn't short on cash, thanks to his $106.4 billion net worth, so it's not surprising he spent a fortune making sure his sprawling home in Washington is up to his high-tech standards. The Microsoft co-founder's lavish home, known as 'Xanadu 2.0' after the movie Citizen Kane, is valued at a reported $130 million and overlooks Lake Washington in Medina, a suburb of Seattle. He bought the mansion with his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, in 1988 for $2 million, and spent a further $14 million on surrounding properties to ensure total privacy. The construction of Bill's unique smart home took seven years and cost $63 million.
"My house is made of wood, glass, concrete, and stone," Bill wrote in his 1995 book, The Road Ahead. "It's built into a hillside, and most of the glass faces west over Lake Washington to Seattle to take advantage of the sunset and Olympic Mountain views." Photos show the exterior has a wooden cabin-style aesthetic with large windows overlooking Lake Washington and plenty of greenery offering privacy.
Spanning a whopping 66,000 square feet, the house boasts seven bedrooms and 24 bathrooms, as well as six kitchens, a home cinema, a trampoline room, a 2,100-square-foot library housing two secret bookcases, a hidden bar, and an engraved quote from The Great Gatsby. It also has a 16th-century Leonardo da Vinci manuscript – the 'Codex Leicester' – that Bill bought for $30.8 million.
What really sets the house apart is the technology. As well as high-tech video walls, guests are reportedly given a pin-like device that tracks their location and stores their personal preferences regarding room temperature, lighting, and even music. The floors can detect if someone is walking around without a device, and the alarm system will be triggered.
© Getty ImagesOther amenities include a 60-foot swimming pool with an underwater sound system, an outside terrace area, a sauna, and a steam room. Outside, the property is also said to boast an artificial stream that is stocked with salmon and sea-run cutthroat trout and a guest house. The one-bedroom property is supposedly where Bill wrote his 1995 nonfiction book, The Road Ahead.
© Getty ImagesDespite Bill's kids, Jennifer, 30, son Rory, 25, and daughter Phoebe, 23, no longer living at home and his divorce from Melinda after 27 years of marriage in 2021, he has no intention of downsizing from his lavish compound. "My house in Seattle, I admit, is gigantic. My sisters have downsized. I can't. I like the houses I have," he told The Times. "My kids like to come back – that is a luxury. I don't cook, I don't make my own bed, but I don't mind if no one has made it – I wouldn't notice."
© Getty ImagesAs if one huge house wasn't enough, Bill also owns several other beautiful properties across the country. In 1999, he bought a 13,000-square-foot, six-bedroom, nine-bathroom property for $12.5 million in Indian Wells, California. He also owns a horse ranch in Wellington, Florida, worth about $59 million.
