Bill Gates’ House

The Microsoft chairman’s high-tech Medina mansion, built in the mid-1990s on the shores of Lake Washington, is considered notable enough to have its own Wikipedia page.

Unless you have your own boat, or can somehow wrangle a personal invitation from Bill and Melinda, the best way to glimpse the property is on a boat or airplane tour of the Seattle region.

See this 1997 U.S. News & World Report feature for all the inside details on Xanadu 2.0, as the magazine called the Gates house. It’s a short drive from the Kirkland offices where Gates has based his personal business operations since leaving his full-time Microsoft executive role.

More recently, Gates has made news for buying many of the properties surrounding the house, to create a “buffer zone” between his home and the surrounding neighborhood.

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TikTik and Mike Turner photos via Flickr.