The South Tahoe Realty Blog

The following was posted as a comment to my original Tranquility estate post. I found it so interesting that I’m creating a separate posting for it. Thanks to Don for the following write up:

I was a helper for the granite company that worked there. I thought I’d add a couple of other cool things that stood out for me.

1. The master bath is made completely out of white carrera marble. Floors, walls, crown molding, window sill, and shower. There is a jetted tub that was carved from two large chunks of marble.

2. Each door hinge cover is made from solid silver.

3. I’ve seen it mentioned that the property was completed in 2000. That’s inaccurate. It was completed in 2001. We were still finishing up in the spring.

4. The brown trout grew so accustomed to Hamburger Helper and Hostess products that when Horowitz would fish the lake, he couldn’t catch anything with normal bait. We would eat on the dock and feed the trout.

5. The entire house has hydronic heating. We had to be extra careful of all the hoses when putting the marble floors down.

6. In the picture of the staircase, at the base of the stairs on the floor, there are little squares of blue marble. We were worried we wouldn’t have enough to complete the job. There was none left in the world. We used it all.

7. I hated working here. It was SO cold all the time. It was hard, hard work.

Edit: Title was changed to reflect a price reduction.

Since learning that one of the highest priced homes in America is only four miles from my home, I’ve been fascinated by the Lake Tahoe estate called Tranquility. It is owned by co-founder of Tommy Hilfiger, Joel Horowitz, and is listed at $75,000,000.

You can learn some basic information on Tranquility at www.tranquilitylaketahoe.com. I’ll also include some property detail at the bottom of this message. However, I want to focus this write-up on a few things I find pretty fascinating about the property.

First, even Realtors cannot step foot onto the property without a buyer who can provide verification of funds (i.e. a bank statment showing $75,000,000). The driveway can be seen from Highway 50, but you won’t get past the private guardhouse, which is just off the road. The only time Tranquility was open to the public was 2007 when the Horowitz’s generously opened their home for an Angora Fire benefit. 250 tickets to see the home’s interior were sold at $500 a piece. $250 tickets were sold to those attending the benefit on the property grounds without the tour of the home.

The closest encounter with Tranquility that is currently available is through a satellite image from Google Earth.

I’ll share a few additional interesting facts about the property. The conservatory, which features a 100-foot pool, has a roof that retracts when the room reaches a certain temperature. It also has an underground tunnel that provides access to and from the main residence. Underground tunnels have a lot of utility during Tahoe February’s when the snow pack is six-feet deep.

For the sports junkie, the gymnasium features a basketball court with regulation NBA backboards and scoreboards. Outside, there are two par 3 golf holes and horse stables. There is also a room with a golf simulator in the home.

Finally, do notice any similarity between these two pictures?

Tranquility’s staircase is actually a replica from the S.S. Titanic. …I’ll have to plan that for my next remodel!

For more information on Tranquility see my post, Tahoe’s $100 Million Tranquility Estate - Part 2.

Tranquility Details:

8 Buildings:
* Main Residence (20,000+ sqft.)
* Guest Residence (5,000+ sqft.)
* Staff and Guest Residence (5,000+ sqft.)
* Gymnasium (4,000 sqft.)
* Art Studio (1,400 sqft.)
* Conservatory (pool)
* Stables
* Boat House Pavilion

210 Acres
16-Car Garage
19-Seat Theater
100-Foot Indoor Pool
2 Par 3 Golf Holes
3,200-Bottle Wine Cellar
Cigar Lounge styled after the one in New York’s St. Regis Hotel

Edit: Changes were made to reflect a price reduction.