Michigan castle seeks to court new owners for $2.5M

As soon as upon a time, in the summertime of ‘69, a Michigan man had huge desires of residing in a citadel. For Christmas that yr he gifted his spouse a card containing blueprints of their future fortress and a promise to construct it for them sometime. Twenty-one years and $10 million later, these paper plans had been became a one-of-a-kind property impressed by the couple’s travels.

“They visited castles all over the world and acquired craftsmen from throughout to do the woodwork and stonework,” mentioned Dylan Tent, the Sotheby’s agent now tasked with selling the 6,106-square-foot, four-story stone mansion set on 6.25 acres in Rochester, Michigan. It asks $2.5 million.

In line with Tent, this itemizing is a far cry from Cinderella’s whimsical abode.

“It’s constructed like a tank,” he mentioned, including it took greater than 60 tons of metal to assemble the body alone. The entrance door, accessible after crossing a mechanical drawbridge, weighs 750 kilos. The roof, accessible by a 60-foot-tall spiral staircase accessible through a secret passageway, is pure slate.

After all, attending to the citadel — which is hidden away on the finish of a suburban improvement — is half the enjoyable.

“You get to those two stone pillars with a creepy-looking gate,” mentioned Tent. “You may’t see the home at this level, then you definately drive up an unnecessarily lengthy crushed gravel horse path — dragon statues stand sentry — that winds by means of the woods.”

Dramatic impact? Verify!

If you happen to don’t need to mess with the moat — and who does? — enter by means of the four-car connected storage that, regardless of the disco ball and LED lighting, is embellished to appear to be a Charles Dickens-era London. The primary room you’ll end up in isn’t a lobby or a mud room. It’s a Tudor-style pub with two secret passageways and what Tent calls a “Scooby-Doo rotating wall.” On the push of the button the wall spins round to disclose a billiards room.

In truth, the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home, which has 26 rooms, is filled with surprises. Every flooring has a secret door to the tower’s spiral staircase. On one flooring the door is hidden in a corridor of mirrors (assume Versailles however on a a lot smaller scale). Within the youngsters’ bed room there’s even a hidden ladder main as much as a fort and a lure door that then heads all the way down to a secret room, which Tent says can be nice for gaming (or covertly binging “Sport of Thrones,” in case your dad and mom don’t approve).

The citadel’s authentic house owners had youngsters, however its present house owners — who inherited the property in a enterprise transaction — don’t dwell on website. The citadel has been vacant for 3 years. “There’s positively some deferred upkeep,” mentioned Tent. “However total it’s in good situation and desires few updates.”

One of many updates must be made to Tent’s favourite function of the itemizing: a sizzling tub grotto full with stalactites and stalagmites — so actual trying they’d even idiot any bats.

The home additionally boasts an elevator (lately serviced so that you don’t want to fret about getting caught), 5 fireplaces, a gymnasium and an underground wine cellar. Whereas the furnishings, together with a freakish variety of cherub statues, aren’t factored into the asking value, negotiations are welcome. The main bedroom alone options $250,000 value of hand-carved furnishings.

No expense was spared within the grasp lavatory both. There’s a chic chandelier hanging over the bathtub, and a stained glass door opens into the house’s porcelain throne. The bathroom room even has a bidet, one thing they really had again within the day of King Louis XIV. (Napoleon Bonaparte even traveled with one.)

Sadly for Tent, who has had about 10 showings since itemizing the home in mid-August, the citadel can solely be used as a residence.

“It’s in a gated group and neighbors don’t need it to be became an Airbnb or a marriage venue,” he mentioned. “I get at the least 5 to 10 calls a day from potential consumers asking about that.” (Mockingly, he got engaged on the citadel final fall.)

Whereas Tent is open to all questions, he gained’t entertain lowball presents. “If we don’t get our value, we aren’t going to only give it away,” he mentioned. “It’s too distinctive and may’t be replicated.”