In the wake of the shocking and tragic death of beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams, many have begun to ask what’s next for his family. Williams is survived by his wife, Susan Schnieder, who on Thursday revealed that her late husband was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.
Williams also left behind three children, and a surprisingly modest home in Tiburon, California.
Despite living a simpler day-to-day life in Tiburon, which is north of San Francisco, Williams also owned a massive property in the wine region of California.
The property, dubbed the “Villa of Smiles,” rests on 653 acres overlooking the Napa Valley.
The home itself is 20,000 square feet and features five bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a home theater and a 65-foot pool. The estate was also a working wine vineyard, with 18 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
Williams put the estate on the market in April, listing it for $29.9 million, according to Yahoo Real Estate. Yahoo also reported that Williams attempted to sell the villa in 2012 for $35 million but was unable to secure a buyer.
Yahoo has a further breakdown of the features of the spectacular estate.
You cross a bridge from the master bedroom to reach a "belvedere" — a word rooted in the Italian words for "beautiful view" — where you can sit in an open gallery and soak in the views all around; picture a bell tower without the bell. You might recognize the concept from a mind-twisting Escher print, though a belvedere can take any form. Its popularity surged in the 16th century.
The home has one grand rotunda and two smaller ones, which set up the axis for the floor plan. The rotunda is a motif found elsewhere in the home too.
The library has a gold leaf ceiling with verdigris finish. It also has three inlaid mother-of-pearl panels: One says Villa Sorriso, one says "Amor vincit omnia" ("Love conquers all" in Latin) — and one of them might give you a little shiver of delight if you were a fan of William's 1989 movie "Dead Poets Society." It says "Carpe diem," or "Seize the day" in Latin.
According to Forbes, Williams was attempting to sell the mansion “because he could no longer afford it.”
In an interview with Parade Magazine last year, Williams lamented how he had to change his lifestyle because of how much he lost in his two divorces (reportedly, $30 million). He said he returned to TV because of “bills to pay.”
Forbes reports that between Williams’ Tiburon home and the Napa Valley spanse, Williams owned $7.25 million in mortgage payments as of 2011.
This means that Williams left behind real estate with equity of around $25 million, depending on what Villa Sorriso can command in a sale.
So what will become of Williams’ Napa Valley home? No one know now, but the home itself is gorgeous (as you can see from the gallery below). We imagine that it won’t be too difficult to find a buyer, considering the property’s sheer beauty.
No matter what happens, we can only hope that whoever buys it is capable of bringing one-millionth the amount of smiles that Williams gave us in his all-too-short life.
(Photos courtesy of Yahoo Homes)
