A – Grand Staircase – 92 feet long, descending 84 steps with roof 63 feet above the stairway. The Grand Entrance is at the top with a 6,300 sq ft garage for guest limos. The gate for the road to the estate is in the upper right. The driveway continues past the Grand Entrance through a second gate to the family four car garage above the inner sanctum [D].
B – Library (hidden behind [A] and trees), 2,100 sq ft and home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester.
C – Guest and convention wing with reception hall, guest rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, meeting rooms, theaters, etc.
D – Family 11,500 sq ft “inner sanctum” with 4 bedrooms. A 60 x 17 foot indoor/outdoor pool is below and the lakefront building is the boat house.
E– Executive offices and main reception hall.
F – Security offices, activity center and exercise room.
Since 1997 Microsoft and Bill Gates have been holding an annual very exclusive “CEO Summit.” The inaugural 1997 conference introduced his 50,000 sq ft, $150 million, Lake Washington estate that was near completion. Usually about 100 top-level people from around the world attend. Sessions and meetings are held at the Microsoft campus and Bill’s estate, aka his personal Convention Center. Most of the meetings and social events are closed to the media and public and advance notices of the times and places of these are not provided. The above is a guide to his lakefront convention center as viewed from the public waters. The estate along with more information is in my book, Lake Washington 130 Homes, on pages 118 and 119 (www.hundredhomes.net).
