Good question. We’re talking about the houses that have acres of roof, whose kitchens and master suites have separate ZIP codes, designs that would give Sarah Susanka  a nasty case of the vapors. We’re talking movie stars and swimming pools, so cue up the Flatt and Scruggs and put on your walking shoes.

Right off the bat, the obvious places – Windsor Castle, the Palace of Versailles, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, among others – don’t count. These buildings were built as residences, yes, but for residents who were, technically speaking, in the service of the state and weren’t private citizens.

Contenders for the Big House Award, Private Residence Category, make McMansions look like entries in Jay Shafer’s Tiny House movement . They might include television exec Aaron Spelling’s former house in Hollywood (73,500 sq. ft.), or the Long Island house of investor Ira Rennert (66,000 sq. ft.) or the equally spacious homes of Bill Gates or Donald Trump. And then there’s the American Versailles, the almost completed 90,000-sq.-ft. Florida home of David and Jackie Seigel, who were the subjects of the documentary film, “The Queen of Versailles”. Not even close.

How about the unintentionally-pun-ny Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C.? Built in the 1890’s by George Vanderbilt II, its total floor space tops out at 178,926 sq. ft. and is considered to be the largest private residence in the United States.

Again, not even close. The biggest private home in the world is…(drumroll, please)…Antilia.
Completed in 2010 by Mukesh Ambani for his family in Mumbai, India, the house rises 550 ft. from the street in 27 floors that make up a total of 394,000 sq. ft. of living space. In addition to multiple swimming pools, a health spa, dance studios, a six-floor car garage and a 50-seat movie theater, the residence also features a room that makes its own snow, a definite perk in a place as warm as Mumbai. Not surprisingly, the home’s price tag is also a superlative – $1 billion. Let’s see the Donald trump that.

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