- A home believed to be the largest in Alabama is on the market for $5 million.
- The 54,000-square-foot mansion has 15 bedrooms and 16 full bathrooms.
- The Shoal Creek property includes a guest house, a guitar-shaped driveway, and a stable.
An extravagant 54,000-square-foot home in Alabama — widely reported to be the state's largest — is under contract after hitting the market for $5 million last month.
The property, listed with The Luxe Group at The Real Broker, was originally built in 1997 by then-MedPartners CEO Larry House. The house, designed in the style of a French chateau, has 15 bedrooms, 16 full bathrooms and six half-baths, a 10-car garage, 14 fireplaces, and a fully equipped guest house. And those are just the basics.
House put the home, dubbed "The Guitar House" due to its famous guitar-shaped driveway, on the market amid financial woes, AL.com reported. It has been on the market multiple times in its lifetime, once reaching a listing price of $17.9 million in 2011. It last sold for $4.8 million in 2017.
Though its current listing price of $5 million might seem a (relatively) low price tag for the largest home in a state, the average price of a house in Alabama is $228,669, Zillow reported — and the average price of a home in Birmingham, which is just 15 miles away, is $127,269. That puts this home's property value at almost 40 times the nearby city's average.
Take a look inside the "Versailles of Shoal Creek" and see what else this 27-acre property has to offer.
The driveway's shape resembles a guitar, with hedges grown to resemble the strings.
It was inspired by the shape of the driveway at Andrew Jackson's historical home, the Hermitage, in Nashville.
The front yard includes landscaping, sculptures, and a fountain.
Upon walking into the grand entryway, it's clear that this home was envisioned as a work of art.
Its design was inspired by historic castles in Italy and France.
On the other side of the entryway is a grand room, which looks more like an art museum.
Here's the view from upstairs. That fireplace is 40 feet tall and made of limestone.
On one side of the staircase is one of the house's living rooms, with a TV mounted atop one of its 14 fireplaces.
Behind that is a sitting room. Each archway is framed with blue drapes — its previous owner once said the home's drapes cost more than $400,000.
On the other side of the foyer is the dining room.
Custom glass chandeliers like this one are seen throughout the house.
If you don't feel like making a grand entrance, there are plenty of other stairwells to walk through — though they're not any less luxurious.
Another one of the home's focal points is this office, which is covered in mahogany built-in cabinets and shelving.
The ceiling features a hand-painted mural.
Besides the interior design touches that resemble the Palace of Versailles, the property has other amenities.
For example, there's the wet bar that looks straight out of an Italian palazzo.
There's also a large wine cellar.
There's even a home theater that looks like an old movie palace.
But if you prefer to be outside, this property also has a patio …
… as well as a large outdoor fireplace, a guest house, an outdoor arena, stables, and more.
There's space for at least a couple of ponies.
The largest home in Alabama was listed for $5 million in April and is now under contract.
