Just read this and was amazed.

Bill and Melinda Gates' $97 million house.


Much of the house is built underground into the hill, so the house looks

smaller than it actually is.

Unfortunately the hidden section underground did not escape the taxman's

view; Bill paid over a million

dollars last year on property taxes



The 1997 total assessed value of the house was $53,392,200 with the land

value being $9,122,200


The house encompasses more than 66,000 square feet which is equal to 1.5

acres.

The major rooms include seven bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, six kitchens, and

six fireplaces.


Other features include a swimming pool, a grand staircase, a theater, a

library, a formal

dining room, a reception hall, conference facilities, offices, an

exercise room, outdoor

sports courts, and of course loads of technology.


Construction Features


Frame

Primarily timber frame. Half a million board feet of lumber was used.

Support beams were salvaged from a

Weyerhaeuser mill on the Columbia River, refinished, and sanded to a

satin glow. The timbers are joined

with stainless-steel fittings, which have been flame-bronzed and

anodized, for a rustic look. All

connecting bolts (also stainless steel) point in the same direction.


Foundation

The hillside is in an earthquake zone, so the foundation sits on

concrete piers and uses tiebacks

and steel reinforcements several times stronger than the minimums set by

the building code. Massive

retaining walls, several feet thick in places, created a drainage

problem, solved by collecting runoff in

buried pipes that feed into the estuary.


Electronics

Miles of communication cable, largely fiber optic, run throughout the

house, linking computer servers

powered by the Windows NT operating system. In each room,

touch-sensitive pads control lighting, music,

and climate. Visitors will wear small electronic pins, which will let

the computers know who and where they

are. Lights and other settings will adjust automatically. Floors

throughout the house (and the

driveway) are heated.


Building officials from a dozen local municipalities toured Bill and

Melinda Gates' house last month, below are the comments from one of

the officialsOld story)


* Currently 300 workers including 104 electricians.


* No visible electrical outlets anywhere. Gates does not like "clutter".



* Wood columns from main floor to roof in entry area are over 70 feet

long.


Primary structure is all exposed similar to large logs in a lodge except

the logs are PERFECTLY finished.


* All timbers used inside and out are finished the same - 3 inches have

been removed from the exterior of the wood and then sanded to a satin

finish.


* All timbers are nearly perfect in that there are almost no knots.


* All connectors are structural grade stainless steel.


* All bolts throughout the house are stainless steel and oriented the

same direction.


* All woodwork is flawless. Much of the woodwork is of various rare

species from all over the world - imported especially for the Gates.


* Some of the interior passage doors weigh over 800 lbs, but are

balanced for easy use.


* Acoustics are a concern throughout. Various woods and fabrics are

being used. Acoustic panels in the ballroom move out of sight on their

own.


* Roofing is stainless steel.


* Floor is heated everywhere including the driveway and walks.


* Ventilation system also conditions the air for health and comfort.


* Security system (automated and personnel) Is redundant. Hidden cameras

everywhere including interior stone walls. Sensors in the floor can

track a person to within 6 inches.

System is monitored at the Microsoft campus.


* Gates has a personal 4-car garage. House for the maintenance staff has

its own 3-car garage. Nanny parks in the 6-car carport across from the

main entry. An additional 10 cars can be parked in a subterranean arched

concrete building which through an electronic transformation becomes a

basketball court.


* Nanny lives in plush quarters in the main residence near to the Gates'

bedroom.


* Existing cedar tree was determined by Gates to be in the wrong

location and moved 6 inches.


* Gates insisted on saving a 140-year-old maple adjacent to the

driveway. The tree is monitored electronically 24 hours per day via

computer. If it seems dry, it gets just the right

amount of water automatically delivered.


* There will be an 18-hole putting range.


* A salmon hatchery is being finished.


* If you wish, your music will follow you throughout the house - even

at the bottom of the pool.


* Many doors are blended so well with the walls that it is hard to see

them.


* Theatre (underground in a concrete shell) is most state-of-the -art

theatre in the world according to specialty contractor.


* Entry gate senses when your car approaches and opens fully by the time

you arrive.


* Antique cabinets from China have been brought in and built into the

walls with adjacent paneling built to match the cabinets exactly.


* 52 miles of communication cable in the building.


* Shower curtain next to the spa is a 4500 lb slab of granite.


* Melinda has 42 linear feet of clothes hanging space in her closet

operated like a dry cleaner's rack.


* Master bathtub can be filled to the right temperature and depth by

Gates as he drives home from work.


* Only two guest bedrooms.


* There is a 28-foot high cantilevered retaining wall.


* Reinforcing steel in all concrete is four times the code minimum.

No.18 steel wrapped with no. 5 ties was common for

simple columns.


* There is a loading bay within the building.


* All work is virtually flawless.


* An interior designer disagreed with the layout of a portion of the

home. Demolition resulted and 160 cubic yards of cured,

cast-in-place concrete was removed.


* All building officials were suffering "sensory overload" shortly after

the 3-hour tour started.

Not a council house then.