HOUSTON – The most expensive residential listing in Houston real estate history has hit the market – an estate in the Memorial area priced at $43 million, according to Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty.
Secluded on 2.5 wooded acres, this Neoclassical, close-in Memorial-area chateau is surrounded by private, park-like grounds.
The home is located not far from the residence of President George H.W. Bush and the Houstonian Hotel, just west of Loop 610.
Called “Chateau Carnavon,” the home is the residence of Marie and Wilbur Bosarge Jr. a co-founder of Quantlab Financial, a high-frequency trading firm. The Bosarge family, patrons of the art community, installed museum-quality lighting for art display in the home.
The 27,000-plus square-foot chateau is designed for elegant entertaining and the display of museum-quality art. Amenities include lavish gilt and delicately-wrought, hand-painted decoration; meticulously reproduced period molding; white marble tile and inlaid, hand-scraped hardwood floors; and antique boiserie, chandeliers, and marble fireplaces.
“Houston has some very expensive homes that have been built over the last 10-years or so,” said Martha Turner, Founder & Co-President of Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty, “ And we may be turning the corner as families put them on the market for the first time since they were built, giving us a whole new price and quality level that we haven’t seen until now.”
Expertly proportioned principal rooms include a gallery/reception hall, Versailles Room/salon, dining room, music room, east gallery hall, family room, sun room, and breakfast/informal dining room. The kitchen encompasses an elegant entertaining kitchen, catering kitchen, extensive butler’s pantry, and office. The setting and architecture evoke the grandeur of Versailles and the art-filled mansions of Paris’16th arrondissement.
The home has eight-bedrooms, seven full baths and four half-baths.
The home is not listed on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) operated by the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR).
The home will attract the interest of buyers from around the world, said Stuart Groves, an agent with Martha Turner Sotheby’s International. “It could be an international buyer I could be a local buyer. This is Houston, so you are probably going to get a lot of international attention,” he said.
In Houston, the average price of a single-family home in August was $275,369, the Houston Association of Realtors reported. The median price—the figure at which half the homes sold for more and half for less—jumped 10.4 percent to $206,000.