Trump bought the home in 2004 in Abe Gosman’s bankruptcy.  With the help of Kendra Todd, winner of The Apprentice, he performed a $25 million dollar renovation on the home that included manicured gardens on the outside, 24-carat gold fixtures in the bathrooms, and a marble-coated kitchen.  The house has 15 bedrooms, a guest cottage, 15 full baths, 8.5 half baths, and a 30.4 meter swimming pool.

Donald Trump paid $40 million for the property originally, and put about $25 million in renovations.  When he sold the property for $95 million he made a profit of $30 million dollars.  Not too shabby.

Rybolovlev has had his share of media attention in Russia.  In 1996, he was suspected of murder, though he was found not guilty.  In 2010, after being spotted in the company of young models aboard yachts, and his wife decided to take action.  They divorced in 2009.  In addition to Elena’s interest in Rybolovlev’s business holdings, she also filed an action in the City Court of Palm Beach to protect the Maison de l’Amitie from sale or destruction.  As of September, 2010, the fight was still on.  As of a 2011 GeoEye view shows, the house is still standing.

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Want the convenience of apartment living but don’t want to give up on things like your garden or sunlight? Then there is a perfect apartment for you in lovely Rotterdamn. Referred to as the Cactus House, the twisted design allows for large balconies which aren’t directly overlapped by upstairs neighbors. The end result is a great deal of sunlight and the ability to keep a garden. The downside is that the apartment building looks a lot like Dagwood’s dream sandwich.

I’m sorry, I couldn’t shoehorn a Star Wars reference in. Feel free to supply your own.

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Construction began in 1969 by one Rex Martin and his wife Caroline Bogaert Martin.  They had traveled a bit in Europe and were stunned by the architecture, so they decided to try to recreate it on some prime acreage in Kentucky.  The finished “house” would have fifteen bathrooms, seven bedrooms, a fountain courtyard/driveway area, and more.  Unfortunately, before the place was finished the thrill was gone, and Caroline and Rex divorced in 1975.  The castle was left unfinished.

The property was for sale for years, with a price tag of $3 million dollars.  There were talks of an upgraded Medieval Times kind of tourist attraction, or maybe a museum.

Tom Post bought the castle, and did some massive renovations.  In May of 2004 the castle caught fire.  Post, who lived in Miami at the time, had planned to use the property for charity – hosting fund raisers and other events.  Despite the setback of the fire (which cost a bundle), post promised to rebuild.

All the repairs were finished by 2008.  The resulting renovations had the castle home to twelve suites, a formal garden and tennis court, a pool, a ball room, a dining hall, and more.  Of the sixteen total bedrooms, four of them are in the turrets.

The Grand Ballroom

A Guest Room

Now known as CastlePost, the property is still owned by Tom Post, and it is an inn and special events venue.  Two reports said that the property is for sale again, for a whopping $30,000,000.

Thomas Whaley moved to California during the gold rush, and moved to San Diego in 1851.  He lived there until 1853, when he moved back to New York to marry his sweetheart, Anna.  They moved back to San Diego right away, and Thomas started building their dream home with bricks from his own brickyard.  They moved into the house in 1857 with their children Francis and Thomas.  Immediately, although the house was beautiful and unlike any other in San Diego, they began to hear strange noises in the night.

The land where Thomas built the Whaley house had once been home to gallows where one James “Yankee Jim” Robinson had been hanged for trying to steal a boat.  Upon his arrest he had been hit upon the head and he suffered some wounds.  During his time in jail, his medical care was seriously neglected, and he suffered infection and delirium.  He was hanged, and it took him forty five minutes to strangle to death.  The Whaleys were quite sure that it was Yankee Jim who haunted their house.

The Whaleys suffered personal tragedies (Thomas Jr. died one year after they moved into their new house – taken down by Scarlett Fever and their wooden store burned down), and personal joys (Anna Amelia was born six months after Thomas Jr. died) and moved back to San Francisco for almost a decade.  During that time, Anna gave birth to George in 1860, Violet Eloise in 1862, and Corinne Lillian in 1864.  Thomas Sr. returned to San Diego in 1868, fixed up the house, and the family joined him in 1868.

The house was not only the residence of the Whaley family, but also the location of the town theater.  The theater was set up in a rented second-floor bedroom and could seat 150 people.  In 1869 Whaley rented the courtroom (good thing he had the foresight to build one of those!) and three upstairs bedrooms.

Both Violet and Anna wed their suitors in 1882.  Violet and her husband divorced, and distraught about the situation, Violet shot herself through the heart with her father’s gun in 1885.  The elder Whaleys and the kids who still lived at home moved to a smaller home in San Diego.  That would be the place that Thomas Whaley would die, in 1890, and in 1905 Anna passed away in Modesto, California.

I909, Francis, eldest son, decided to restore the old family homestead.  He advertised the home as an attraction, and would play his guitar for visitors.  Anna (the mother), Francis, Corrine, and George all lived in the house until their deaths.  Anna in 1913, Francis in 1914, George in 1928, and Corinne in 1953.  They all died in the house that they loved so well.

In the 1960s, the United States Commerce Department would designate the Whaley House as an official haunted house.  Yankee Jim’s footsteps can still be heard, and he is the most consistent haunt of any of the paranormal sightings and experiences that have been recorded.  Though he did not die there, people have claimed to see the ghost of Thomas Whaley in the house, and others have seen Anna in the garden and in the downstairs rooms.

source

Other ghosts have been seen in the upstairs rooms, and a descendant of Thomas Whaley’s who ate ant poison and died is said to grab people’s arms as they walk by.  Even the Whaley’s dog, Dolly Varden, is known to lick women’s legs, and children have tried to pet her.

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What happens when you combine an architect, activism, and a latrine?

Don’t be alarmed. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you; that is a toilet-shaped house and it’s real.

Sim Jae-Duck, an architect from Seoul, Korea, is the mastermind behind this what some might call a masterpiece and others might call a master piece of s*** (pun intended). Surprisingly, the inspiration and meaning behind this $1.6 million home is a lot deeper than you might think. Sim has felt a deep connection to toilets as long as he can remember and even before that; his mother intentionally gave birth to him in a bathroom due to a family belief that bathroom births led to long and healthy lives.

Already in his 70s and still going strong, Sim took on the toilet house project with an activist purpose in mind. Sim, who is chairman of the organizing committee of the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association, has been campaigning for clean and beautiful toilets since 1995 when he was major of Suweon Korea, when he spearheaded efforts to spruce up the country’s facilities before hosting the 1998 Summer Olympic games and 2002 World Cup. He says that 2.6 billion people live without toilets today – a problem he is trying to remedy, in part, with the toilet house.

The house was unveiled in 2007 as part of the annual World Toilet Association meeting. The “Toilet House,” as it is affectionately called, is the world’s only latrine-shaped building. Sim chose to build the house 30 miles south of Seoul in Sim’s hometown of Suwon after tearing down his former home.

Featuring two bedrooms, two guestrooms, and four deluxe toilets, including one in the center of the house with clear walls that fog up and play classical music when occupied, the house can be rented out for $50,000 per night. Visitors have to pay $1 for a glimpse of the “porcelain” wonder. All proceeds from the house go toward improving subpar bathroom sanitation in impoverished nations.

“The toilet revolution should start with talking about toilet issues freely,” said Song Young-kwon, head of the organizing committee at the time of the house’s unveiling.

The building has been aptly named Haewoojae, which translates to “a place of sanctuary where one can solve one’s worries.” Its steel, white concrete and glass construction emulates the feel and industrious nature of its real-life counterpart. At 24.5 feet tall, the second story of the toilet bowl opens onto the roof with a garden and includes a water collection system to conserve drinking water.

Guest Post by Dana Bashor

Dana Bashor is a multi-faceted talent. Dana Bashor is known for many things but most of all she is an actress, model, and singer. Dana has been working in the industry as a model and Actress for 5 years. She is currently running her own business as well as freelance writing on topics such as consumer awareness and astronomy. Dana currently helps contribute to topics such as planet antares for Wikipedia and other websites.

First off, there’s the exterior.  It’s hard to believe that it used to be a standard post-war California bungalow, because this house’s exterior is the furthest thing from that.  It’s totally black, with a barrel-curved roof (and of course, the ceiling inside is curved as well) and it looks very, I don’t know, black and barrel-like.  And shiny.

Well, shiny in parts.  The original listing said that the “rock musician” took advantage of the Southern California weather, and Farrell has always been a bid of an environmentalist, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this dark exterior has something to do with solar heat and a wicked-efficient indoor heating and cooling setup.  In addition, there is also one whole wall that slides open (like a sliding glass door) so that the indoors can incorporate some outdoors.  There is also a rooftop deck.

The first floor of the house features an open floor plan.

Open floor plan with a barrel ceiling

The master bath has a sunken tub (and by sunken we mean directly in the floor) and cool floating sinks.  Two vanities are key, no matter if you’re a rock star or not.

The property also features a three-car garage, a rock and cactus garden.  One drawback?  Laundry in the garage.  Even the wives of rock stars (and the rock stars themselves) have to schelp to the garage to do the wash.

Either way, it’s a pretty cool house, and I bet you’re sorry you didn’t know to save up $1.425 million to buy it.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Do you like learning about celebrity homes?  If so, I’d be happy to find some more for you.  Comment below!