Once upon a time, castles were real strongholds for feudal nobles. Living in such buildings is not very convenient, but it was possible to wait out the turmoil and protect yourself from enemies. The era of the Middle Ages has long passed, but interest in the architecture of that time remains to this day. The Elite.RU portal, together with real estate agencies Penny Lane Realty, Kalinka Group and Knight Frank, compiled the top 5 castle-style houses for sale in the Moscow region.
1st place – Fortress in Koptsevo
The castle was built in a prestigious area of the Moscow region - on the Novorizhskoe highway, but quite far from the Moscow Ring Road - almost 100 km. The complex in the village of Koptsevo is completely subordinated to medieval style: from the appearance of the buildings to the massive wooden furniture in the rooms, as well as huge fireplaces under the ceiling.
Behind the fortress wall there is a garden with rare plants, which once grew in such possessions. Access to the water, a view of it, and elevation changes in the landscape complete the complete picture. The territory also fully corresponds to the scale - 7.35 hectares under the residence, 8.6 hectares of forest on the river bank (1 km coastline) and 4.6 hectares with a stable where horses of rare and valuable breeds are kept: Arabian and Akhal-Teke, and the horses are guarded specially imported Tibetan mastiffs. The cost of the facility is more than $10 million.
2nd place – Residence in Shemyakino
Second place in our ranking went to the medieval residence in Shemyakino. The house is located 20 km from the Moscow Ring Road along Leningradskoe Highway. In the building with total area 5 thousand sq. meters there are human-sized knights, collections, an art gallery and a library. The size of the plot surrounded by walls is 45 acres. The offer price is $3 million.
3rd place – Castle on Rublyovka
The complex in Lyubushkin Khutor (16 km from the Moscow Ring Road along Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway) is more modest in size than the previous two. But the building fully corresponds to the style of the Moscow region. The walls enclose an area of 60 acres (1.2 thousand square meters), designed in the form of a castle with battlements and towers with loopholes. In the basement there is a swimming pool with a health complex. In addition, there is a guest house measuring 560 sq. meters. The cottage is sold unfinished. Price: $6.5 million.
4th place – Castle House on Novorizhskoe Highway
The house is also located on Novorizhskoye Highway, but only 2 km from the Moscow Ring Road in the village of Myakinino. The structure resembles a castle only with the central tower - a round donjon, as well as the façade's stone-like finish. There is a wine cellar, a library and a fireplace room.
The cottage is small, its area is 966 sq. m. meters, and the plot is 17 hectares. But from Novorizhsky Castle to the center of Moscow you can get to the metro. Myakinino station opened back in 2009. The price of the cottage is 468 million rubles (about 7.5 million dollars).
5th place – Fortress in Barvikha
Rounding out the top five is another castle from Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway. But it is located almost twice as close to the Moscow Ring Road as the cottage in the Lyubushkin Khutor communal settlement - in the village of Barvikha. A house with an area of almost 1 thousand square meters. meters is sold with a plot of 15 acres. The structure is more modern, and only the quadrangular main tower reminds of the castle. The mansion is up for sale for 424 million rubles (approximately $6.8 million).
Unusual castles can attract the attention of others, but selling such a structure is difficult. Representative of AN Penny Lane Realty Svetlana Manzurkina says that now the elite prefer modern comfortable houses with optimal area. This is confirmed by the head of the Kalinka Group department, Anna Veprintseva: “Selling such a personalized project is undoubtedly more difficult than a classic cottage without clearly expressed stylistic features" According to Oleg Mikhailik from Knight Frank: “There are 2 options for the development of events for such real estate. The first one will be ours someday, but it is impossible to predict the timing of the exposure. The second option is strong price dumping.”
In general, castle houses should be built only as a family residence for many generations, since they are clearly not designed for mass demand.
Not everyone, even the richest people, is lucky enough to live in a real ancient castle. But many are trying to turn theirs into one. ordinary house. Sometimes it looks very stylish, but more often it looks funny. And today we will tell you about the 10 most unusual modern buildings in the form of a castle.
Sleeping Beauty Castle is the symbol of the Disney studio and the most famous object of the Disneyland amusement park. There is fierce debate as to which structure was the basis for the appearance of this building. Among the prototypes are Neuschweinstein Castle in Bavaria, Notre Dame Cathedral and the almost completely destroyed Castle of St. Hilarion in Cyprus.
Of course, no Sleeping Beauty lives in this castle. This structure, built in 1955, is purely decorative and is a gate between two in different parts Disneyland park.
There are families who have a treehouse in their backyard. And a social unit from Great Britain has not a house, but a whole castle, consisting of several towers and bastions connected to each other by rope bridges.
Moreover, this is not just a place for children's fun and entertainment, it is a full-fledged living space where the above-mentioned family lives on a permanent basis. Inside there are several bedrooms, common rooms, toilets, bathrooms, a kitchen and a dining room. But all this does not stand on the ground, but is attached to trees at a height of several meters.
In the village of Akimovka, Zaporozhye region of Ukraine, there is one of the most unusual residential buildings throughout the country. The fact is that this building with a total area of 330 square meters looks like the real thing medieval castle with blank outer walls and defensive towers.
It was originally planned that this modern castle would be for children entertainment center, but the idea could not be agreed upon with local authorities. As a result, the entrepreneur who built it decided to convert the building into his own residential building.
A residential building in the form of a castle looks much more harmonious in Italy, where, unlike the steppes of Southern Ukraine, there is a tradition of such buildings. But a family from Milan, wanting to live in a castle, decided not to buy one of the many real ancient defensive fortresses, but to build it anew. Moreover, in such a way that this stylization does not look vulgar and tasteless.
The result is a very stylish cottage, one of the volumes of which is very reminiscent of the square tower of an ancient castle. It contains bedrooms for the owners and their guests. And all this stands on the shores of Lake Como, in one of the most picturesque corners of Italy, located 40 kilometers from Milan.
California's Napa Valley has very European - Italian or Spanish landscapes. Alternating hills and flat spaces, endless vineyards and wineries. What is missing is a knight's castle, a centuries-old stronghold protecting the local population from raids by neighboring feudal lords.
But in 2007, a castle also appeared there - a complex called Castello di Amorosa, which houses a winery, tasting room, hotel and tourist center. This building, with an area of more than 11 thousand square meters, is stylized as a European defensive structure.
Moreover, the corresponding style also has interior spaces– Castello di Amorosa has art galleries, a wine cellar, a Catholic chapel and even a torture chamber. This pseudo-castle regularly hosts festivals of medieval European culture and history.
It is difficult to say what is more present in a private residential building with the name located in Piedmont - modernity or history. It would seem that this building clearly has the appearance of a castle. Moreover, its two towers are original, they remained from a medieval Italian fortress.
But the rest of the towers and premises have absolutely modern look, albeit a little stylized to reflect historical realities. And the pool, equipped in the courtyard of this castle house, completely takes us from the times of the knights to the twenty-first century - safe and comfortable.
Looking at this Gothic building and the green spaces surrounding it, it is easy to believe that it is located somewhere in Britain or Ireland. In any case, from the outside it looks like a centuries-old defensive structure from that region. But, in fact, this castle is located in the village of Khryashchevka Samara region Russia.
The Garibaldi Castle Hotel was built in the area in 2012, and a VIP hotel inside is scheduled to open in 2014. Despite its appearance, this is a new building - darkened with time facing stones were artificially aged.
Surprisingly, Garibaldi Castle does not look like tasteless kitsch - it fits very harmoniously into the surrounding landscape of the Samara region.
And if the castle-hotel Garibaldi in Khryashchevka looks very decent, it is clear that good architects worked on it, and used expensive materials, then a similar structure with the name Excalibur is obvious kitsch.
Otherwise, it’s not surprising. After all, this castle is located in Las Vegas - the world capital of kitsch. Inside Excalibur there is a hotel, casino and shopping and entertainment center. People go there to spend money in exchange for pleasure and excitement, and not in anticipation of seeing something real, historical.
Chinese copy of a French castle
The Chinese managed to copy not only the appearance of this elegant structure, but also its interiors. So visitors to the fake castle can admire the same frescoes and paintings that hang in its original, French version.
Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world every year during winter holidays travel to Lapland to visit Santa Claus. And it is natural that even the castle of this mythical character appeared there, made, of course, of snow and ice.
The Snow Castle houses a hotel with twenty rooms, as well as a restaurant and a center family vacation. Inside all the rooms of this unusual structure, the temperature froze at -5 degrees Celsius. So for visitors to sleep comfortably on a snow bed, they have to cover themselves with several layers of blankets and skins of wild animals.
Snow Castle opens its doors to visitors from December to April.
In the Middle Ages stone dwellings They were not only places to spend the night and store property, but also played the role of shelter from enemies. And to make them reliable, the windows in them were made narrow, like loopholes. Yes, they often performed this function - and this is how the Romanesque style was born in medieval architecture.
Centuries have passed, but fans of the Romanesque, or rather medieval, direction in construction have still not disappeared. They dream of building a real castle in order to reign supreme in it. Of course, the construction of such a home is more a tribute to fashion than a practical necessity. But that doesn’t stop it from being desirable...
House project in the style of a medieval castle
So, if you are interested in a fortress-like structure, you have come to the right place. Among the many most different offers We also have designs of houses in the style of a medieval castle. Each of them is unique, because serial in this case completely inappropriate.
By the way, among the existing projects of houses in the style of a medieval castle, there are those in which completely modern dwellings are built, stylized as antiques, but equipped in a modern way.
However, if you really want to, you can still build a real castle. An alternative to it is an “organic house” in the style of Wright. We can help with this too.
A private cottage, stylized as a medieval castle, is a completely unusual, original and extraordinary solution.
There is an opinion that the construction of such a building requires a lot of time and money. However, it is not. Professional construction companies today they can offer a number of ready-made and inexpensive design projects or develop individual plans based on all the wishes of customers.
Some historical facts
The beginning of the construction of palaces for high-ranking persons dates back to the 10th century AD. It was at this time that wars broke out in the world between various principalities and states. To protect cities, fortresses were equipped with moats, strong walls, and towers.
The latter were most often made round or polygonal. The larger the fortress, the more majestic its owner looked. Mostly very influential and rich people lived in medieval castles.
Subsequently similar designs They were often rebuilt not to protect their possessions, but as residences for influential people. Today, castles built in the Gothic, classical types or the Renaissance.
Castles began to be created in Russia, starting with the construction of Kremlins and protective structures. Then they were built as palaces for emperors and people close to them. The most famous domestic buildings are: Mikhailovsky, Vyborg, Peterhof architectural ensembles.
There are a number of very interesting facts about the castle mansions:
- As a rule, the toilet in them was dressing rooms, which were equipped with an ordinary hole;
- they were built on a hill to make it easier to spot and destroy enemies;
- natural wood was used to recreate the first buildings - this was necessary so that in the event of a lost battle for the territory they could be easily burned;
- staircases in such structures were always made spiral-shaped - they also performed protective function(it was harder for the enemy to hit the head tower).
The main advantages of castle houses
Experts in the construction field note a number of advantages that cottages castle type differ from other projects:
- they are more monumental, massive and look much more noticeable against the background of other houses in the cottage village;
- they organically combine classical architecture and modern design;
- if dimensions allow land plot, next to the building you can create a beautiful garden;
- The facades of such mansions are usually decorated with climbing greenery.
Stylistic decisions
There are several design variations in which cottages are now being rebuilt as luxury mansions on the market.
1. Gothic
One of the most popular is the Gothic one: despite the fact that such a building may look gloomy from the outside, its main decorations are stained glass windows, wide arches, and beautiful spiers.
2. Renaissance
Another quite popular one design solution Among the owners of country real estate there are castles in the Renaissance style.
In order for the cottage to look sophisticated, when developing such a project it is worth clearly thinking through every detail - from the arrangement of furniture to the territory of a small garden inside the mansion.
3. Baroque
For those who want to have a home that is artsy and full of decorative elements, best option– Baroque.
4. Romanesque style
Cottages with Romanesque architecture are also distinguished by their massiveness and abundance of various columns.
Construction Features
Most owners of country real estate choose the castle style to make their own cottage more original and give it a romantic appearance. True, doing this for an already built house is much more difficult than rebuilding a new one.
To transform ready-made cottages, there are several interesting techniques that professional designers readily use. One of them is the addition of stairs, gates, balconies and railings with unusual, artificially “aged” forged elements in medieval style. Often similar products performed in the form of bas-reliefs and images of animals.
Windows in castle style they are made massive and equipped with stained glass or stucco. In addition, they have arches and must be made of wood.
They try to make the roof bright and unusual. As a rule, a pitched roof is chosen.
Before you start construction country cottage in the form of a castle, you need to carefully select the site. It is optimal to build such a building on a hill. This way the building will acquire additional fundamentality.
To fulfill all necessary work Only experienced, highly professional specialists should be hired, ideally already having experience in the construction of castle houses. So, definitely, you cannot do without a natural stone processing specialist, a carpenter, or a qualified blacksmith. It is advisable to provide them with comfortable premises for accommodation. Believe me, this way your cottage or dacha will be ready even faster.
Materials, style, layouts
When planning the construction of a country residence in the form of a castle, it should be taken into account that for this it is necessary to use only natural building materials. Typically this type of building is constructed from decorative stone or brick. Panels from natural wood. Marble masonry will cost more.
Naturally, when creating a design project for a cottage-castle, you need to carefully study its interior. In this case, one cannot do without antique decorative elements and, of course, functional components.
In principle, sometimes it is enough to give the house only the appearance of a medieval palace, and arrange the living space in modern style. Of course, we shouldn’t forget about such essential elements for this style as a fireplace, wrought-iron stair railings and other details.
Toilets and bathrooms are best located as close to the stairs as possible. For finishing residential premises, only natural and environmentally friendly materials should be used.
Inner space
It is equally important to pay attention interior decoration castle style cottage. First, you should correctly and accurately plan the placement of electrical wiring.
Don't forget about fire safety. In principle, the pipes of heating and water supply systems are placed along standard scheme. As for light sources, to give the rooms a medieval look, you can place them around the perimeter. a large number of lamps. For more ambiance, you can install candles in the bedrooms and living rooms.
Experts who have been constructing buildings in medieval style for many years give some advice on arranging their interior space:
- marble can be used to decorate walls, floors and ceilings, decorative rock or modern products imitating similar building materials (this option will be much cheaper);
- You can also simply plaster the walls and ceilings, and subsequently paint them in any suitable color;
- antique furniture will fit perfectly into general interior absolutely any room (though you shouldn’t install it in a nursery);
- curtains should be made of natural fabric, and fur accessories, tapestries, stuffed animals will complement the interior ambience.
In addition, it would be a good idea to decorate the interior with several paintings decorated with gilded frames.
Another accessory that will optimally fit into the interior of a castle house is massive, original bookcases for storing books. And the books themselves obviously won’t hurt!
Since the project of building your own castle is complex and requires special skills of designers and builders, it is recommended to regularly monitor the actions of the construction company’s craftsmen. Be careful when signing the contract, clearly write down all the details and do not be deceived!
Did you like the article?
Join our VK community, where we talk about all the nuances of country life and real estate.
The word “castle” is familiar to everyone, but does everyone understand its meaning? This word is associated with fairy tales and princesses who lived in fairytale castles. And as you know, there is some truth in every fairy tale. Castles were built back in medieval Europe. These were structures or entire complexes of structures that were used for housing, but in addition to this function they also performed a defensive function. Thick and tall stone walls, drawbridges, ditches with water along the perimeter protected people from attacks. In Russia, the first fortresses were wooden. Their construction dates back to the 9th century. Later, fortresses began to be built of stone, and wooden ones were reinforced with stone walls. Russia has a rich history. In its vastness, various castles have survived to this day. These are Kolomna, Zaraisky, Tula Kremlin, Smolensk, Staraya Ladoga, Porkhov fortresses, Shaaken Castle, Vyborg Castle and many others.
The designs of the castles are completely different, but they also have common features, namely:
Strong perimeter walls:
Small slits-windows in the walls for archers;
Towers along the entire perimeter of the castle, including corner ones;
Pointed hip roofs towers
All these architectural features were formed under the influence of harsh times. Frequent attacks by enemies and internecine wars forced people to be ready for battle at any moment. Even the settlements of farmers and cattle breeders tried to be located near such castles, so that in case of trouble they would have time to take refuge behind its walls. So the fortresses grew and gradually turned into entire cities.
Fortunately, today there is no need for such locks. Those buildings that have survived to this day are museums under open air and attract tourists. Their beauty fascinates and delights. Therefore, the features of their architecture are reflected in modern houses. Private houses built in the form of castles have the same sharp roof towers, may have arched openings for windows and doors, and a stone or stone-imitated façade. But that's where all their similarities end. Today there is no need to build high stone walls, observation windows for archers, or drawbridges and gates. And if someone is really afraid of robbery or attack, then it’s enough to buy and install the system burglar alarm. Ready project The lock will take this feature into account. The main thing is to order project documentation from a good company. And specialists will take care of all engineering systems.
Modern castle project
A modern castle is warm, convenient and comfortable a private house with beautiful architecture and well thought out functionality. Such a house does not have to be large. The main thing is that its appearance really resembles a castle. At the same time, all turrets also have their own functionality. It can beat the usual semicircular bay window, which will look like a tower from the outside, but inside will simply increase the space of the living room. Instead of a stable - a garage, instead of guards - video cameras, instead of a drawbridge - automatic gates, and instead of a moat around the castle there are flowers, yes green lawn. At the same time, castle projects are freely available for everyone.
To make the dream of any princess come true, it is enough to small area. A castle of two or three floors with a small perimeter will fit perfectly even on 4-6 acres. And the castle project is the first step towards a dream. Of course, the architecture must be complemented by appropriate interior and design. Furniture, textiles, and decorative elements should complement the home with chic and sophistication. Only in this way will the architect’s idea be achieved as accurately as possible.