Gates wants to expand mega-house
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MEDINA - Bill Gates' $109 million house on Lake Washington has 37,000 square feet and parking for 28 cars, but it's not big enough.
Gates is seeking permission from the city of Medina to expand the house and add another child's bedroom.
In this exclusive suburb that's home to executives and technology tycoons, the grandest house of all is the Gateses' Northwest modern palace stepping down the wooded bluffs to the lake. World leaders are entertained there by the world's richest man, and it's a regular stop for sightseeing boats full of tourists, but the addition makes it clear that it's primarily a family home.
Spokesmen for Gates and his wife, Melinda French Gates, declined to comment on whether the new bedroom is needed because the couple is expecting a third child. They have a daughter born in 1996 and a son born in 1999.
"The fact that they're adding a bedroom to the house wouldn't necessarily be an indicator one way or another about anything in particular," said John Pinette, spokesman for Microsoft, which Gates co-founded and where he is now the chairman and chief software architect.
"Essentially we don't comment about things going on in their personal lives," said Trevor Neilson, spokesman for the philanthropic Gates Foundation and the family.
The house, completed in 1997, was valued at $109,500,000 for taxes last year.
City documents say the family decided that some changes are needed to make it more livable.
In making a pitch to enlarge what may be the world's most expensive house, representatives of Gates said it was designed for a bachelor and is now occupied by a family that finds it "isn't fitting as they expected it to."
A variance for the work was granted in January by the Medina Board of Adjustment, but the family has yet to apply for their building permit.
City records say the family "found errors were made in the way the house was designed, and the way they expected to use the house has changed. The proposal addresses those limitations."
Proposed changes would:
- Connect the house to its guest pavilion, which is now primarily used by extended family rather than guests.
- Eliminate space originally planned for a live-in nanny.
- Create a new play and study area for the children near their bedrooms, "which are relatively small," according to a Gates building representative.
- Create an additional child's bedroom.
- Improve outdoor security.
Architect Jim Cutler could not be reached for comment. His partner, Bruce Anderson, testified in January that it could not be anticipated when the house was designed what changes would be needed in the future. Neighbor Charles Swoope told the Board of Adjustment last month that the neighborhood suffered from a decade of construction of the original house. The city granted his request that construction traffic be routed through Gates' private driveway on the upper portion of the property, rather than use the common street.
Swoope, who toured the house after it was completed in 1997, said he's not surprised the family wants to make some changes.
"I personally didn't think the layout was very convenient, and so I think it's more for that purpose than they have an expectant child or something," he said. "They've lived in it for a while and they see things about the arrangement of rooms and things that aren't convenient, and they want to change that."
Brier Dudley can be reached at 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com.