Striking oil in the Kingdom
To the naked eye, Chateau Louis XIV appears centuries old, built in the tradition of the great French palaces. Nestled in a 57 acre park, there are marble statues and fountains; a hedged labyrinth and bridle paths; and a handsome, if ostentatious, façade.
But “the world’s most expensive home” - as dubbed by magazine when it sold in 2015 for $300 million - is actually a new development. Modern luxuries include a home cinema, a subterranean nightclub, and an aquarium under the moat, a transparent chamber designed for viewing the sturgeon and koi fish swimming overhead. Everything - from the fountains to the lighting displays - can be
