A Neurosurgeon's Castle Brings Medieval Style to the Midwest

Curbed Sep 11 2011, 12:01 PM ET

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Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Price: $3,500,000

This extravagant castle-like home was built on spec in 2008 and purchased during construction by a local neurosurgeon and his hairdresser wife for around $4 million. The owner told The Oklahoman she and her husband were "planning a trip to Europe, in part to tour castles, when they spotted the ... house." But now they've put their travel alternative up for sale at a loss, despite having filled the place with glamorous European light fixtures and furnishings. The castle was first listed for $4 million in early 2011 and took a quick $500,000 price cut in May. At 9,600 square feet, "[i]t's a big home and everything suits it," the owner says. "The chandeliers and the big door handles. Everything is more perfect than I could pick out in a million years." Yet the six-bedroom manse, a hodge-podge of faux finishes and architectural styles, might be one of the most muddled designs we've come across.

So what makes this place so fascinating? Contained within the estate are details designed by builder Dave Goodman, of Oklahoma-based Dave Goodman Homes, to feel old school and distinctly European: hand-painted finishes throughout, wood floors, and beamed ceilings, some of them 22 feet high. "A lot of my inspiration comes from old historic homes, inside as well as outside," Goodman has said about the house, which, in 2009, was used as a showhouse to raise money for the YMCA Oklahoma City. The theme continues outside, where a Spanish slate-gray roof, two turrets, and Gothic windows, not to mention 2,000 additional square feet of covered patios and balconies contribute to the property's castle-like feel. "It was breathtaking and we fell in love," the seller says. "We looked at it on Sunday and bought it on Wednesday. It will be a bright, cheery, happy home." Despite its reasonable-sounding $365 per square foot -- not to mention its massive 800-bottle wine cellar -- one thing's for sure: finding a buyer who wouldn't rather spend their millions on regular trips to the real thing in Europe might be a challenge.