Fit for tech royalty: Bay Area’s most expensive home, now on the market for US$110 million, is a Silicon Valley estate with a Dolby theatre and DaVinci fireplaces

Apr 20 , 2022

This new home in Woodside, California, styled to look like a Renaissance-era Italian villa and convenient for Silicon Valley, looks set to demolish the record for the most expensive Bay Area residence. Photo: Paul Rollins

The Woodside estate comes with Covid-19 in mind, hosting a home office, spa, gym, salon, golf simulator and Dolby cinema to stream HBO Max and Netflix

Residents have included Michelle Pfeiffer, Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, rock star Neil Young, Steve Jobs and Oracle’s Larry Ellison – who lives across the street

When most of us think of California, images of white sand beaches, sun-dappled vineyards and movie stars come quickest to mind. Perhaps the Golden Gate Bridge or even the historic art deco Los Angeles City Hall building.

Since the inflating then bursting of the dotcom bubble in the late 1990s though, Silicon Valley has also been one of the state’s quintessential identifiers, albeit one that less readily calls a specific image to mind.

The house in Woodside, Silicon Valley, covers an impressive area and is safe from scrutiny thanks to its extensive grounds. Photo: Paul Rollins

Today, boasting the largest concentration of homes valued at over US$1 million in the US, and with the third-highest GDP per capita in the world, the clutch of towns along the Santa Clara Valley, anchored by San Jose and including Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Cupertino, are poised to set some notable real estate records.

Located on the San Francisco peninsula, Woodside is an affluent town just north of Silicon Valley, known as a small but vibrant hub for venture capitalists. If Silicon Valley produces the end product, Woodside funds its development.

Where there’s an archway, there’s a chandelier at this Woodside, Silicon Valley estate. Photo: Paul Rollins

With an average home price of around US$5 million, the town of 5,000 or so is one of the country’s wealthiest. Among its local residents past and present are actress Michelle Pfeiffer, Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, rock star Neil Young and some guy named Steve Jobs. Certainly, whoever purchases Woodside’s newest estate at 890 Mountain Home Road will be in good company: Oracle’s Larry Ellison lives just across the street.

Depending on your source, the property is listed at somewhere between US$84 million and US$110 million, making it the most expensive home ever listed in the Bay Area, demolishing the previous high of US$43.5 million set by a home in Pacific Heights last year.

Classic touches like chandeliers often embellish otherwise modern interiors at the Woodside, Silicon Valley home. Photo: Paul Rollins

The sprawling Italianate compound welcomes with a suitably hi-tech front gate, leading to a six-car garage. But guests and residents alike are snapped back to a more elemental mindset with a calming fire and water fountain at the entrance to the main house, offset by the soft, sandy hues of the natural stone exterior. The design delivers modern amenities with a Renaissance architectural vocabulary, expressed in its vaulted ceilings, marble surfaces, arches, stonework, crystal chandeliers and hand-plastered walls.