When home is a man-made water fortress

Pass through a guard gate and cross a moat bridge to access this outlandish $10.9 million Miami home.
Photo: Realtor.com

Some properties are so outrageous that the souls who run real estate blogs hope and pray that they will eventually come on the market. This is one of them: the low-lying water world that Miami architect Charles Sieger (known for multi-million-dollar residential high-rises) built for himself smack in a land-locked Miami neighborhood.

Now that moat-surrounded castle is for sale for the first time since its completion in 2007 with a list price of $10.9 million.

As if to reveal the Sieger's deepest personal obsessions, everything about the property is painstakingly symmetrical, from the quite-obviously man-made lake to the diamond-shaped courtyard to the pair of concrete gazebos (accessed by stepping-stone paths) jutting out to either side of the house.

Contrasting black raiing and white walls create a neo-Gothic mood.
Photo: Realtor.com

The eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 10,100-square-foot interiors have a bright, airy, double-height living room, but the ornate wrought-iron rail running around the second story creates a moody, almost Gothic feel (as do many of the furnishings). And if Stonehenge and the Roman Forum were to have an extremely modern baby, it would likely resemble that sculpture garden out back.

The sculpture garden notably strays from the home's obsessive symmetry.
Photo: Realtor.com

If you're thinking that this place would look pretty rad in a hip-hop video: brilliant! The Sieger Residence featured prominently in Birdman's 2010 "Fire Flame" music video.


See full story: Inside Miami's Utterly Bonkers Manmade Water Fortress