Britannia Manor II For Sale!
That’s right, Dragons and Dragonettes: Richard Garriott is selling his palatial Austin, Texas home, nicknamed “Britannia Manor II”. And it can be yours for the modest sum of $4,100,000!
Britannia Manor II, the captivating & magical estate of Richard Garriott, aka, Lord British, is seeking new stewardship. Situated high on a level 3.99ac hilltop overlooking downtown & a 3,000ac preserve, this home offers amazing architectural details & intrigue plus an “off the grid” energy realm. Features behind the iron gate include a 360 degree observatory w/ telescope atop the approx 4790 sq ft home, pool, grotto, waterfall, +detached studio, separate guest quarters, a/c’d barn, lagoon,lighted track.
It comes with, according to the listing, a built-In oven, cook top, dishwasher, disposal, double oven, downdraft, microwave oven, refrigerator, self cleaning oven, and an updated A/C Unit (> 12 Seer). No word on whether it comes with a bread maker.
Gargoyles!
Features left unmentioned in the listing include: British flags, secret passages, Origin Systems history, and unparalleled levels of awesome.
The First Age of Update: Welcome, Game Politics, GameBanshee, Bouledefeu and (indirectly) Escapist readers!
Revenge of the Update: Not bad…I reported on this about the same time as KUT News in Austin did. It’s not every day that I get to the news as quickly as the actual newsies do! Kotaku, Joystiq, and GameInformer are all carrying the story now, as well.
But where will he reside now?
Not under a bridge, I hope. There be trolls!
From Wikipedia:
In 1997 the house was broken into by a deranged fan. Garriott held him off with an Uzi, firing a warning shot while waiting for police to arrive.
Wow, I wonder what his problem was. Anxious for a sequel? 😛
Somehow seeing Lord British selling Britannia Manor feels… kind of sad.
If I had a few millions to spare, I’d buy it and turn it into an actual Origin Museum :O
I second that Sergorn
I imagine he’s built a Britannia Manor 3
I wonder if I could get a 4.1M home loan…
I really need to win the lottery I guess! It would be a shame if someone bought it and turned it into a more boring, normal house.
Yes–this is the OLD Britannia Manor… there’s a Britannia Manor III now.
Whoa, really ?
I didn’t even know there was a Britannia Manor II at this point in any case, always thought twas just the one 😛
Well…there’s not *really* a Britannia Manor III–it’s just the foundation, and located just down the road. Richard never had the money to complete it, but it was going to be enormous, and even cooler than this one. I heard Richard is even selling much of the property from BM III, but not the foundations of the house, or the theatre, or the tiny town he has built there.
I also have it on good authority that he will be living in New York. I assume he still has many surprises still in store for us tho. 🙂
If anyone wants to go ‘halves’ on it with me, I’d be happy to help with making it an ‘Origin Museum’ 🙂
Britannia “Manor” I is just his first house, I think.
Wish I was a Millionaire…
Nice Gargoyles; hope he pays them well after his games about racial tolerance. Or do they come with the Manor?
Tis a most befitting palace M’lord: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM109_EbMcs
Sounds like the new Lady British doesn’t want to live in a geek playground anymore. Hope he knows what he’s doing…
Speaking of Lady British…
La la la la la la la la la la la la la!
Some videos from when MTV toured his home that was posted on RPGWATCH
http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/160869/medieval-medical-practitioner-or-vampire-hunter.jhtml#id=1564231
Interesting stuff.
Any photos exist of the other properties BMII or III?
There’s a handful of other video walkthroughs I can think of, and probably various photos available online…especially of events he would have hosted there.
I think I have a few articles about the house queued up in draft; I’ll check.
I suppose he never made that more elaborate mansion being conceptualized at the end of the posted video link here in the comments? With the mazes, etc?
So why is he selling it? Think it could be his new wife? Or is he just strapped for cash?
Sadly — or, perhaps, thankfully — realtors don’t typically put the previous occupant’s reason for wanting to sell on the real estate listing.
Apparently RG has been very secretive about his networth. If you google Richard Garriot networth the first thing that comes up is forbes billionaire list. But is he that rich? Perhaps he’s made some prudent investments that have paid off over time. Who really knows, I can’t pull the forbes article up that specifically talks about him. But if you pull the billionaire list up, he’s DEFINITELY not on it.
So how much is he worth? Well, in this article he says not a whole heck of a lot anymore.
http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/99218-richard-garriott-interview.html
He says the 30 million it took to fly him to space was the bulk of his networth. But you know how the game is. He wants to be a very down to Earth dude, he probably doesn’t want people thinking he’s -that- rich. And like most wealthy individuals he’s probably not being truthful about how much, -he really has-.
Why hide it if you’re not worth so much anymore? Either way, I think it’s more than likely the wife. How am I going to raise children if my husband has a dungeon room and shrunken heads in jars? Can you blame her? But who knows…
I can’t do anything but speculate, but…
He got married…and believe it or not, some wives don’t want to live in a house with secret passages and skeletons and coffins and creepy automata. The story I heard is that Richard is moving to New York, presumably because his wife has a place there. He has also sold some of the land from Britannia Manor III, but not the ‘south end’ where he has the foundations of the new home, and all his other buildings. My guess is that he plans on finishing the new house, using money he makes from the sale of BM2.
For my money, the correct response to that would be “put on your corset and Baroque-style dress, dear; we’re going to the RenFair.”
LAWL!!! OMG I never saw the cribs episode with rg, that was really funny, the host had no idea what to say.
Ha, good one Kenneth!
I really hope he didn’t do it because of the wife. He has been into this stuff his whole life so I would think if she married him she got him “as is”.
Heck I got plenty of dorky stuff in my mouse (Granted nothing like he does but I dont have the money for it) but I tell my wife you married me deal with it….she isn’t gonna read this is she?
Quickly! Let’s rob the Royal Mint, kill the teller, swipe the gold bars, cast ressurect, and buy the manor!
We could give the tellers in the royal mint sleeping potions. They would be none the wiser 🙂
I’m showing my Latina wife MLS listings of houses I’m looking at buying, which are the sorts that will be hers when Immigration let’s her into the country. I surreptitiously slipped in the Britannia Manor virtual tour. She responded to *every* scene with amazement and revulsion.
Looks like you’ve got a winner!
In…er…both senses in which that could be taken.