Belle Epoque, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 29th 2007 at 1:02PM

Oh those computer guys, they have a habit of building monster homes. Norman Waitt, Jr. co-founder of Gateway had a hankering for a vacation home (and why not, he lives in Omaha, Nebraska, he could use a little sun). So where else but Montecito, the place where Oprah and others with the wherewithal to jet in for weekend getaways chose to nest. According to Ben Casselman of the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Waitt built a roughly 12,000-square-foot home, known as "Belle Époque." He picked up the property in 2003 for $12.6 million, tore down the existing house and spent the last four years creating his dream home. Now that it is done, he's done, deciding to sell without ever settling in. He put the house on the market last year for $24.8 million and has now dropped it to $22.5 million.

Belle Epoque was designed to maximize the views and make sure that plenty of gorgeous Santa Barbara light flooded the home. It has a large formal living room with gently curved French doors. The dining room is designed for dining in the round and more French doors open to the terrace. The breakfast room faces east to catch the morning sun There is a conservatory with custom gothic style windows and doors, Carrera marble flooring and thresholds and motorized windows. Key details include antique light fixtures, tiles, glass mosaics, refurbished bath fixtures, old stone tops and exquisite reclaimed antique oak flooring. The 2.76-acre property has a pool and spa, formal garden, meditation garden and three-car garage. After the jump, take a look around and let me know in the comments if you would rather have this home in Montecito or Ellen's?

Tags: belle epoque, BelleEpoque, gateway computers, montecito, norman wiatt

Filed under: Estates

Source

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gaudy gaudy gaudy! Apr 29th 2007 3:14PM

The epitome of having too much money and zero taste. You can NOT buy taste (or class!) with all the money in the world!

Jim Apr 29th 2007 5:53PM

Ellen's by far. No wonder he never moved in. But it must be nice to experiment at this scale...

K Apr 30th 2007 12:07AM

#1 - you're absolutely right.

And, what a waste of land! I know the area well, and I can tell you, that is one wasteful way to use up that amazing piece of land overlooking the ocean. He built up the house so much he forgot that there's a whole wonderfully beautiful world outside his window. DUH. Way to integrate that land in to the house - with some "sunlight streaming in." Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!