Real Estate: Castles in Europe
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
Bellevue is 25 miles west of my place in the lowlands essentially at sea level. i'm in the beginning of the mountains and get mountain weather; higher elevation, twice the rain, 5-6 degrees cooler, and more wind. 2 years ago when Bellevue got 12-15 inches of snow, i got 4 feet.
i own a tractor driven snow blower.
it's relatively more like Scotland......than east of London.
i love where i live (i could love other places too). i could not afford anything like my house if it was in Bellevue.
of course; it takes a Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos to own a castle like that one in the pictures in Bellevue.....and both do live there (in Medina right next to Bellevue).
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I think he'd look good in that yellow suit of armour on the YT video still, never mind a bat suit
In 1985 we were in Northern Ireland for a meeting of the International Planetarium Society board (during "The Troubles"). One of our side excursions was a private visit to Birr Castle outside of Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. We had to pass the border check points back then, but the trip was uneventful.
Lord and Lady Rosse hosted the 10-15 of us for a private tour of the castle and a formal lunch. They had taken over the castle only a few years earlier when Lord Rosse's father had died. (The present Lord Rosse is the 7th Earl of Rosse). We were there to see the famed Leviathan of Parsonstown (the Rosse title inheritance is the Parsons family), which was built by the 3rd Earl of Rosse in 1845. It was at the time and for 75 years until World War I, the largest telescope in the world - with a six foot diameter speculum mirror (now at the Science Museum in London). The 100" telescope on Mt. Wilson above Los Angeles displaced the Rosse telescope as the largest in 1917. The tube was still there and since our visit, the telescope has been restored and the castle and grounds have been open for public tours since 2014, still led by Lord and Lady Rosse, now in their mid 80's.
One of the major issues they were having (and apparently still have) is paying for the maintenance and upkeep of the castle. They now charge admission for public tours (ours was a small private tour and lunch). Lady Rosse talked about the heating bill, something like 60 GBP per day back in 1985 to keep the castle in the 50's (Fahrenheit) at night. I think the stone walls keep the temperature moderate on hot days without air conditioning. It wasn't a hot day when we were there. Lord Rosse said that some of the castle owners had opened their grounds for various events (something that they were later to do) including motorcycle races, of which they didn't approve. When we finished the tour, we were led into a large room where the liveried butler who had greeted us on arrival was selling souvenirs of various sorts as part of their fund raising. The Society had paid for the visit and the lunch and tour.
Larry
Lord and Lady Rosse hosted the 10-15 of us for a private tour of the castle and a formal lunch. They had taken over the castle only a few years earlier when Lord Rosse's father had died. (The present Lord Rosse is the 7th Earl of Rosse). We were there to see the famed Leviathan of Parsonstown (the Rosse title inheritance is the Parsons family), which was built by the 3rd Earl of Rosse in 1845. It was at the time and for 75 years until World War I, the largest telescope in the world - with a six foot diameter speculum mirror (now at the Science Museum in London). The 100" telescope on Mt. Wilson above Los Angeles displaced the Rosse telescope as the largest in 1917. The tube was still there and since our visit, the telescope has been restored and the castle and grounds have been open for public tours since 2014, still led by Lord and Lady Rosse, now in their mid 80's.
One of the major issues they were having (and apparently still have) is paying for the maintenance and upkeep of the castle. They now charge admission for public tours (ours was a small private tour and lunch). Lady Rosse talked about the heating bill, something like 60 GBP per day back in 1985 to keep the castle in the 50's (Fahrenheit) at night. I think the stone walls keep the temperature moderate on hot days without air conditioning. It wasn't a hot day when we were there. Lord Rosse said that some of the castle owners had opened their grounds for various events (something that they were later to do) including motorcycle races, of which they didn't approve. When we finished the tour, we were led into a large room where the liveried butler who had greeted us on arrival was selling souvenirs of various sorts as part of their fund raising. The Society had paid for the visit and the lunch and tour.
Larry
Gotta be bondage gear.
No one in their right minds would do that to a real suit of armour.
I like very much how your house feels that you are totally "in the country" with a lot of privacy and space and views all around you, but only a short drive to Bellevue.
Very interesting, Larry. Thank you for telling the story.
Clearly, unless money is no issue, one has to make a castle effectively one's life's project in terms of maintenance and upkeep.
me too. i'm away from it all, and a 25 minute drive to the middle of chaos (not Bellevue).
J Paul Getty bought Sutton Place that has castle elements. I gather guests did not like to overnight the place because he wouldn't heat it appropriately. I guess you don't truly know the meaning of dank until you have stayed in an English castle in cold weather. They could also act as prisons for inconvenient relatives and persons who could otherwise not be imprisoned, but weren't safe to allow to run free, either.
Ah yes brought back some memories of my time working in Dublin in the 60's-- I knew Brendan Oxmantown ( Lord Snowdons half brother)well and visited Birr on numerous occasions -a magnificent estate -did you seethe famous Raphael Paintings --Return of the Prodigal Son? they are worth squllions there is quite story behind those --for another thread maybe!
Of course there were the others of equal standing in the Republic--Leixlip ( Desmond and Marigo Guinness) Glin castle--Knight and his friendly ghost! Powerscourt( Viscount Slazenger of the tennis family) Castletown-the Connolly Carews's/etc/etc. I attended the Monaco "Ball of the little White Beds" made famous at the time by Princess Grace of Monaco at Castletown. Ireland has such wonderful Culture and heritage still evident in spite of their troubles and struggles over the centuries.
Thank you for the Post-
I must admit Ron's posting on this subject came entirely out of left field
--maybe he needs to view some episodes of "To the Manor born"!Good Times!
BruceD
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Well -another posting stirs the old bones here-ha!-- Yes I went to Sutton Place in --1962(I think, bit rusty on the old noggin ) to attend J Paul's
love child-- Jessica Kitson's 21st birthday. It was a who's who of the Carnaby Street and swinging 60's set--with bands playing /Marques/ etc.
One of the groups was a little know outfit at the time--The Rolling Stones-who'd just release a poorly recorded ditty--C'mon.
Anyway the word got out they were there and hordes of crashes descended on the stockbroker belt and all hell broke loose --fights /dudes in the pool/etc .--I remember we quit when all this started --the cops came and the event was shut down--fun times tho-ha!
Oh yes I do recall the A+B Black UK Payphones in the hallways-ha!
The headline in the SUN newspaper the next day--complete with pictures of the mayhem--
The Battle of Gettysburg
BruceD
Nice stories Bruce. The law (rule?) of primogeniture has insured that these estates don't get divided up by a generation or two or three of inheritances. However, as the feudal right of the lord of the manor to tax his subjects has fallen by the wayside, it means that many, most? of these grand estates are being given away by the family and now are owned by the National Trust or similar non-profit organizations in the UK. I think that in many families, the second son may be much happier not being the heir to the title, the estate and the responsibility.
Larry
Larry
For Ron. Very near Los Angeles (in San Marino) is a home that was built on the model of a French Chateau.
It is now the Art Gallery at the Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens. Mrs. Arabella Huntington and her husband Henry stayed at a French Chateau and Mrs. Huntington fell in love with it and had an architect build their home incorporating the plans of the chateau. She also was an avid collector of fine art and you can see some of the most famous paintings in the world in the Art Gallery and the Library. The many gardens are also world famous. The "Huntington" is now owned by a private foundation and is open to the public for tours - well worth a day's visit when visiting Los Angeles. According to wiki the foundation has an endowment of over $400M, providing ample funds for the upkeep of the estate.
I learned about this fabulous residence as a result of my parents first visit to Los Angeles in the 1950's and their tour of the Huntington. When my parents entered the Residence turned Art Gallery, my mother started walking around. She appeared to know where all the different rooms were, including bathrooms and closets. My father was quite amazed - they had never been in Los Angeles before, let alone the Huntington. My mother turned to my father and said "This is the same as my grandfather's house." It turns out that my great-grand father (my mom's grandfather) had also visited the same French chateau and built his own copy of it in Macau (across the bay from Hong Kong). My mother lived there as a child and knew all the details of the room layouts, etc. Many years later, I was visiting Macau for the first time and had a map showing where my great-grandfather's house was located. We arrived at the location and it was covered in green vegetation, set back from the road and surrounded by a fence. We were told that it had been converted into a very large apartment complex and was not open for visitors. I did some further research when we visited the Huntington (the source of my knowledge about Mrs. Huntington and her French Chateau visit) since we were going to be going to France for a vacation, especially to tour the Loire Valley, the home of many French Chateaus. I learned unfortunately that the original Chateau had been destroyed during World War I.
Larry
It is now the Art Gallery at the Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens. Mrs. Arabella Huntington and her husband Henry stayed at a French Chateau and Mrs. Huntington fell in love with it and had an architect build their home incorporating the plans of the chateau. She also was an avid collector of fine art and you can see some of the most famous paintings in the world in the Art Gallery and the Library. The many gardens are also world famous. The "Huntington" is now owned by a private foundation and is open to the public for tours - well worth a day's visit when visiting Los Angeles. According to wiki the foundation has an endowment of over $400M, providing ample funds for the upkeep of the estate.
I learned about this fabulous residence as a result of my parents first visit to Los Angeles in the 1950's and their tour of the Huntington. When my parents entered the Residence turned Art Gallery, my mother started walking around. She appeared to know where all the different rooms were, including bathrooms and closets. My father was quite amazed - they had never been in Los Angeles before, let alone the Huntington. My mother turned to my father and said "This is the same as my grandfather's house." It turns out that my great-grand father (my mom's grandfather) had also visited the same French chateau and built his own copy of it in Macau (across the bay from Hong Kong). My mother lived there as a child and knew all the details of the room layouts, etc. Many years later, I was visiting Macau for the first time and had a map showing where my great-grandfather's house was located. We arrived at the location and it was covered in green vegetation, set back from the road and surrounded by a fence. We were told that it had been converted into a very large apartment complex and was not open for visitors. I did some further research when we visited the Huntington (the source of my knowledge about Mrs. Huntington and her French Chateau visit) since we were going to be going to France for a vacation, especially to tour the Loire Valley, the home of many French Chateaus. I learned unfortunately that the original Chateau had been destroyed during World War I.
Larry
The Huntington is one of my favorite spots in LA, particularly for its botanical gardens. The library is also cool.
The nearby Norton Simon is my favorite museum - easily the most underrated one here. I prefer the art to the Getty but it doesn’t have the views.
Finally, Lacy Park around the corner is my favorite park in the city with majestic views.
The nearby Norton Simon is my favorite museum - easily the most underrated one here. I prefer the art to the Getty but it doesn’t have the views.
Finally, Lacy Park around the corner is my favorite park in the city with majestic views.
Beautiful, Larry, thank you!
(But does it have a secret underground escape tunnel which doubles as a target range?
)I do not envy the next real estate agent who is sweating blood to persuade you that the property in question is still a brilliant one despite the utterly unjustifiable lack a secret underground escape tunnel. Bite believe me, even said Tunnel would not compensate for the chores of owning the chateau/castle .. because th eine thing you can not escape from in that tunnel is owning the attached castle and it‘s liabilities (discretionary spending power withstanding naturally)Beautiful, Larry, thank you!
(But does it have a secret underground escape tunnel which doubles as a target range?
It would be great to organise an audio show in a place like this one.
Miramare Castle
Miramare Castle
