With a current asking price of $48 million, Chestnut Hall in Sandy Springs is the most expensive estate in all of Georgia. The buyer will pay roughly $179,000 per month in mortgage payments. What makes a property worth that much?
It’s not simply the size. The 17,776-square-foot mansion has seven bedrooms and 11 bathrooms plus two kitchens, a 16-person dining room, gym, library, media room, sunroom, and more. The estate manager’s quarters add four more bedrooms and three more baths, and the poolhouse has a bedroom of its own. It is, in a word, vast. Yet there are at least 15 other homes that size or larger on the market in Atlanta right now, and even the priciest of those asks $25 million—about half of Chestnut Hall’s price. It’s not just the generous 18.6-acre lot either. Several of the aforementioned behemoths boast similarly sized lots.
It is a combination of unique architectural elements, such as decorative dining room doors sourced from a 19th century English monastery and an extensive collection of priceless art that was called “one of the most notable collections of art and antiques in America today” by Coldwell Banker Previews International President Betty Graham. It also helps that the estate sits in the 30327 ZIP code, Atlanta’s most exclusive, according to Forbes magazine. The home that the listing calls a “private estate custom-crafted for the ultra-affluent” is also available sans art and antiquities for the relative bargain price of $37.5 million.
For either amount, the buyer of the limestone-and-brick mansion will enjoy features such as a 1,000-bottle, climate-controlled wine cellar and a 77,000-gallon saline swimming pool. They will enter their manor through 19th century Parisian doors before taking in an entrance gallery with ceilings, moldings, and columns inspired by Borromini’s gallery at the Palazzo Spada in Rome, the Braccio Nuovo at the Vatican Museum, and the Hôtel de Béhague in Paris. Then they can enter their 1,700-square-foot, three-room fitness studio through French Art Deco doors, work out in the expansive gym, and relax in a spacious spa complete with steam room, eight-person sauna, double shower, and chaise lounge capable of converting into a massage table. Kids will adore the full playground, baseball field, and children’s kitchen equipped with a snow-cone machine.
Luxurious finishes and lavish materials abound: Venetian plaster walls, custom silk draperies, intricately carved marble fireplace mantles, and custom mahogany doors. Irish Waterford crystal chandeliers from 1830 hang over French herringbone hardwood floors. An onyx bathtub features an 18K gold-plated tub filler. Even the closets have hardware made from 24K gold and Swarovski crystals.
Then there is the estate’s immense array of museum-quality paintings and sculptures, irreplaceable tapestries, and rare antiquities from around the world. It includes original Picasso watercolors, an Arabian funerary stone stele dating back to the 5th to 3rd century B.C.E., and a pair of 19th century jardinières from the gardens of Versailles. A mosaic from the floor of a Roman villa dates back to the year 450, and original paintings from artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Kees Von Dongen, Maurice Utrillo, Edouard Vuillard, Raoul Dufy, and Jean Dufy line the halls.
For more information on Chestnut Hall, visit its website or contact Marc Castillo of Coldwell Banker at 404-705-1570.
