Fairytale? $5M Castle For Sale In Berkeley Hills
BERKELEY (KPIX 5) -- A castle for sale in the Berkeley hills offers a chance to live out the fairytale dream, if someone can come up with the cash.
The Hume Castle on Buena Vista Way in Berkeley is on the market for $5 million.
From the street, you may not even notice this house in the Berkeley hills. From the air, you can't miss it. Walk inside, and you'll never forget it.
Hume Castle, or more correctly, Hume Cloister is a French-style mansion in the Berkeley Hills built in 1929 by Samuel and Portia Hume. From turrets on the outside to mysterious narrow passages inside, it is every bit a fairytale.
"This is my most important listing, for sure," Listing Agent Bebe McRae told KPIX 5.
McRae showed the house off for brokers Thursday. With 5 bedrooms and 7 ½ baths, the home features a spiral staircase leading to a unique green bathroom. The house is built around a courtyard with an actual well in the center. It has Gothic arches, a Bocce Ball court, and heavy redwood beams.
"It's not just that you can't build them the way you used to…you don't have the materials to build them the way you used to," McRae said.
The views from the home look down on UC Berkeley, and out to San Francisco in the distance.
"It just really feels like you're living in a castle…but not in a stuffy way///I don't even think Bill Gates could have a house like this built," Real Estate Broker Louis Lin said.
The asking price is $5 million, but brokers for international buyers say that's cheap compared to homes in London or Tokyo costing up to $7,000 per square foot.
"The Bay Area's pondering at $1,000 a square foot, so that's still a bargain. Really, a bargain? Absolutely," Realtor Giuseppe Zumbo said.
