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.

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 by my company’s owner, Shari Chase, at $100,000,000. That’s a lot of zeroes.

You can learn some basic information on Tranquility at my company’s website and at www.tranquilitylaketahoe.com. I’ll even include some Tranquility specs at the bottom of this message. However, I want to focus this write-up on a few things that I find pretty fascinating about the property.

First, even as a real estate agent with Chase International, I cannot step foot onto this property – that is unless I can procure a buyer who will qualify for a hundred million dollar loan. I’ve seen the home’s driveway from Highway 50. It has a guardhouse just off the road. I have to imagine the rest of the property is guarded heavily as well. The only time Tranquility has been available to the public is last year when the Horowitz’s generously opened their home for an Angora Fire benefit. If I remember correctly, 250 tickets to see the home’s interior were sold at $500 a piece. For those who found that too hard on the wallet, tickets to see the exterior were sold for $250 a pop.

The closest encounter I’ve had with Tranquility is through a satellite image from Google Earth. I knew it was located in Zephyr Cove, Nevada, on a private lake, so it wasn’t too hard to find. Here is the resulting image. Pretty cool, huh?

Since I don’t have access to this place, I’ll share a couple neat facts about it. 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. This may sound silly at first. However, in February when the snowpack is six-feet deep, underground tunnels can be very practical.

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 even supposed to be 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. If my place had a second story, I’d definitely have to get one of these. (kidding, kidding)

For more information see my post, Tahoe’s $100 Million Tranquility Estate - Part 2, as well as the two websites I mentioned. Here are the promised specs:

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