Iconic Sam Hill Mansion in Seattle is back on the market for $16M

The Sam Hill Mansion, one of Seattle’s most iconic homes, is back on the market.

The sellers of the 11,000 square-foot, neoclassical home at 814 E. Highland Dr. in Capitol Hill are asking for $16 million. On Redfin’s list of the most expensive Seattle homes currently for sale, the Sam Hill Mansion is tied for first.

The home was built between 1909 and 1910 by railroad magnate Sam Hill, who moved to Seattle from Minneapolis in 1902. Other notable state landmarks financed and built by Hill include the Maryhill Musuem of Art in Southwest Washington, and the Peace Arch monument on the U.S.-Canada border between Blaine and Surrey, British Columbia.  

Hill, who famously used his Seattle mansion to entertain foreign dignitaries, purportedly built it in preparation for a planned visit to the city by a friend and member of the Belgian royal family. It was designed by the former D.C.-based architecture firm Hornblower & Marshall.

The home itself is quite something. It’s made entirely of concrete and is tucked right up against St. Mark’s Greenbelt, which gives it a medieval-castle-in-a-forest vibe. It has five bedrooms and six bathrooms, and from its rooftop terrace — which includes a spa — you can see Lake Union, the Olympic Mountains, the Puget Sound and St. Mark’s Cathedral.

The mansion made headlines in 2016 when it lingered for more than a year on the market as the most expensive property for sale in Seattle — its price tag at that time was $15 million — and then again a few months later when it was revealed that its then-owners were paying $0 in property taxes on it.

In 2008, it went up for sale at $4.75 million. The spike between its 2008 and 2016 prices was due to a massive renovation. A 2016 Curbed Seattle article explained that renovation this way: “With the help of Stuart Silk Architects, interior design from Garret Cord Werner Architects and Interior Designers and landscape design by Richard Hartledge, the new version is a blend of old and new that tries not to let one overwhelm the other.”

Its current owners are Sam Jaradeh and Boris Nikolic. Jardeh is a real estate developer and designer, and Nikolic is a physician and investor who once served as a chief adviser to Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. They purchased the property for just under $11 million in 2018.

A few other interesting tidbits about the home: It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it has the oldest working sundial in Seattle and it was once owned by Guendolen Plestcheeff, a Seattle local who was nationally renowned for her preservation work and arts advocacy.