I don't have great pictures or a lot of details on this one but it's special enough to cover based on size alone. This is the home of the Craven family, who owns Craven Original, a company that creates fine home gardening products and pottery. The home is an Italian-style villa on a whopping 1,410 acres at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in a small town north of Atlanta, Georgia. There are currently seven homes on the property. It took the Craven family 28 years to collect the property which is also home to 850 cows, 450 of which have calves. There are 20 barns and sheds for hay storage. The property includes miles of fencing and gates spread out over three counties. The land also includes five ponds and three miles of Chandler Creek that could maintain a 250 acre lake to produce power and water for municipalities. The land itself is zoned for 2400 plus homes, golf course, retail center or can be left as a horse and cattle ranch.
The main home is 18,000 square feet and is built on a grand scale with 16 to 32 foot ceilings and 317 arches and a 540,000 artistically laid brick, tile roof, two eight-foot by 16-foot chandeliers in the great hall. All the architectural details such as cupolas, balustrades, fountains and statues were sculpted and cast by Craven Original. Much of it such as the ironwork was manufactured by members of the Craven family. I'm told that the property is appraised at $49 million, but is available for $31 million.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-15-2008 @ 2:11PM
Aqualung said...
For that kind of $, they should be able to afford a pro photographer.
All that land, and they put that ugly fence around the property? You drive up and there's that open space and suddenly you feel like you're in a Medellin druglord's house, sequestered. Ugh.
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5-15-2008 @ 3:16PM
Andy said...
Reading the description, I was excited... Seeing the pictures, I was disappointed.
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5-15-2008 @ 4:05PM
chucrut said...
34°16'40.58"N
83°35'54.50"W
Just in case somebody wants to look at the place.
I like it, but the highway next to the house isn´t that nice.
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5-19-2008 @ 2:19PM
Jason Craven said...
I was actually there for a party yesterday. I've been there many times. The pictures are not really representative of the place. It's also not Italian, but Spanish style.
As for the fence, I suppose that's something you either love or you hate. But, you have to understand that if you're living in a place like that, you do have to worry about security, regardless of whether or not you're doing something illegal.
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