If you’re a rock star, a basketball player or a Hollywood A-Lister… then well done you. If you’re not, then, like us, you’re probably dying to see how they live. We’ve found the really wacky, but kind of impressive houses you’d expect from the rich and famous. After all, if you’ve ever watched MTV’s “Cribs” and seen some celebs’ identikit show homes, you always feel a sense of disappointment. What’s the point of all that money if you don’t go a bit left-field with the decor?! Worthy of mention, Mariah Carey didn’t quite make the list but she has a closet that houses 1,000 pairs of shoes.
1. Marilyn Manson
He owns the skeletons of a 7ft man and a four year old Chinese girl and collects Victorian prosthetic limbs. So it’s little wonder that the abode of Mr. Manson (aka Brian Hugh Warner) comes in at number one on our list. The garage houses this custom 1969 Lincoln Continental, complete with “Goth Thing” license plate.
2. Spelling Manor
This ridiculous $85m house has 14 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms. That fact alone just doesn’t add up. The garage houses 100 cars, there’s a bowling alley, flower cutting room and a room dedicated to gift wrapping. Gift wrapping?! It’s now owned by equally humble family, The Ecclestones.
3. John Travolta
A 16 car garage? Well that’s ostentatious, but the private runway sets this house apart from your average suburban semi. He also has a stables for 75 horses down the road. Can you imagine staying over and hearing the resident Boeing 707B or Gulfstream setting off from outside the house?
4. Bill Gates
The ultimate gadget house, naturally. You get a microchip so that when you enter a room it goes to your preferred temperature and music follows you around. A lot of houses have under-floor heating these days, but here even the driveway is heated.
5. Mukesh Ambani
Ironically overlooking the slums of Mumbai, there is 400,000m2 of living space, three helipads, nine lifts and an ice room with real snow, as well as the world’s largest collection of antique sewing machines. Worth $1bn and owned by an Indian billionaire.
6. Donald Trump
As ostentatious as you’d expect, this sprawling building covers 80,000m2 and was a snip at $41m. It looks like a massive conference hall and is decorated in a suitably gaudy fashion – 24 carat gold bathroom fixtures (in the 22 bathrooms), more marble than an Italian quarry, 48 car garage… you get the idea. Trump sold it to a Russian oligarch for $100m in 2010.
7. Celine Dion
Celine Dion’s water-park in her backyard, has caused local water shortages, at one point using all the Floridian island’s fresh water supply. Costing $20m, it uses 6.5 million gallons of water a year. Not particularly eco-friendly.
8. Oprah Winfrey
Don’t you just hate house guests? They’re always in the way and under your feet. Wouldn’t it be easier for them to be next door? That’s just what Oprah decided to do in the Bahamas, when she bought the house next door as a guest suite.
9. Neverland Ranch
One of the most famous homes in pop history (together with Elvis’ Graceland), the ranch itself isn’t actually that outlandish. The grounds, however, feature a zoo, a fairground, a treehouse, a train station and a locomotive to get around on. There is also a library with 10,000 books.
10. Drake
If Disney made a Bavarian hunting lodge, it would probably look like rapper/singer Drake’s house in Hidden Hills, California. Along with all the trappings you’d expect from a lavish home like this, its grotto style swimming pool with wet bars would rival the Playboy Mansion’s famous grotto.
Contributed by PolicyExpert.co.uk. Whether you live in a plush mansion, or just a typical house like the rest of us normal folk, you can find specialist help with home insurance from Policy Expert.
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