Talk:Bill Gates's house

Untitled

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the debate was don't move. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nightstallion (talk • contribs) 07:00, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes/No?

No. Everybody knows what is meant by "Bill Gates' house" but nobody will recognize the other name. Thumbelina 18:22, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

• Oppose See Wikipedia:Naming conventions; our article names are not based on "officialness", and houses aren't assigned "official" names in any case. Gene Nygaard 14:59, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Punctuation

The title should be "Bill Gates's House", the 's' after the apostrophe is dropped only when dealing with plurals, e.g. "the lions' manes".

Yes, some of us still care!

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.215.45.183 (talk) 17:49, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

• actually you're wrong it should not have the second s. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.76.119.154 (talk) 12:21, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd change it but editing titles confuses me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.215.45.183 (talk) 18:09, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

It's alright, I changed it Ydam 18:12, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree it shouldn't have the second s. I should be Bill Gates' House. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.62.91.130 (talk) 20:27, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I checked, Shrunk & White's Elements of style: "Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, "Charles's friend," "Burns's poems," "the witch's malice."[1] So I would support Bill Gates's Home. --Trödel 14:35, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

I guess there is more controversy Apostrophe says "If the word ends in an s but is singular, practice varies as to whether to add ’s or only an apostrophe. (For discussion on this and the following points, see below.)"

Below it says: "Prominent sources require that almost all singular nouns, including those ending in an s, a z, or an x, have possessive forms with an extra s after the apostrophe." However, there are no prominent sources listed supporting s' always, so I think it is a colloquialism or an improper but common usage. However, every style guide I've been exposed to has the rule for singular posessives has always been "s's."

Personally, I think that since the rule is different for forming plural possessives - since plurals already end in "s" so the practice is to just add an apostrophe - that is the source of the confusion. --Trödel 14:46, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes please lets change the title and link with Bill Gates's house. Jek3012 (talk) 23:31, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

It absolutely should be Bill Gates's house. I've changed all the instances in the body of the text that were incorrect. Now how do we change the title and move the page? 71.183.182.237 (talk) 05:34, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Speaking as a professional copyeditor of 25+ years' experience, the title definitely SHOULD have a second "s" after the apostrophe. See the Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed), sect. 6:24. I would say CMS has considerably greater authority regarding the most widely accepted use than an erroneous page on Wikipedia itself. --Michael K Smith^Talk 23:57, 20 December 2011 (UTC) Then you were a horrible uneducated copy editor . Lol. Obviously the title should be Bill Gates' house. That's how my generation was taught in school . . Just as when it's pronounced there is no Sez " put on the end of the word Gates.2601:189:C381:5A60:91B8:D32D:96B6:BF61 (talk) 13:12, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

Ventilation

• The ventilation system also conditions the air for health and comfort.

Wow, Gates even has air conditioning! -Will Beback 05:13, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Address

• Is it really necessary to publish his address? Publish celebrity addresses seems a bit creepy and unethical to me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ronstock (talk • contribs) 18:30, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

!

How rich is this guy? Can't he give the rest of us some money — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.178.61.46 (talk) 16:29, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

No. -69.47.186.226 18:41, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

He does. Bill Gates gives away tons of money. This just emphasizes how much he really does have. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.62.91.130 (talk) 20:26, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced that it will give $500 million to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next five years. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ronstock (talk • contribs) 18:32, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Heh, if that sucker gave me a few hundred grand I'd be happy for a couple years. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Doctor Hexagon (talk • contribs) 07:47, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Other houses

This article could somehow compare Gates' house and other similarly lavish houses. Gates' house is considered one of cool "most intelligent", while the Biltmore Estate/Istana Nurul Iman is the largest in the US/world, etc. Eg. there's a Comparisons section in the Istana Nurul Iman article. Shawnc 03:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

I assume you've posted this in relation to the see also link to Istana Nurul Iman. While I can see how comparisons of Gate's house with other well known houses might useful to a reader when relevant, I'm not sure how comparing the Gate's house with INI is useful (What do we say, "look, Gate's house is a lot smaller than the largest house in the world"?). I'm not clear why INI would want to link to Gates house either, it seems like they're better off with a whole host of other comparisons, it's not like many readers have had the chance to look around Gate's house and get the feel for it.

Just adding wikilinks to other famous houses doesn't seem particularly useful. A portal or category might do that well, but from an individual article links should be focused on articles that are more than tangentially related.

The idea of Gate's house being the most intelligent is an interesting one, but the source you have doesn't seem very reliable and provides little detail. Have you seen any other articles that discuss this from better sources? --Siobhan Hansa 14:58, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

I also expected to see comparisons with other grand houses. From the photo I was surprised to see that its quite small, and it even seems to be overlooked by other houses on the skyline. Compare with the country mansions of British aristocrats of former centuries - they are many tens of times bigger for example. 89.241.28.53 (talk) 19:43, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

CNC-machined Doorhandles

Does anybody know WHY the house is equipped with $2000 CNC-machined doorhandles? Do they serve some special purpose? Do they have some unusual design to them? Does each room have a different doorhandle style? Are they just made to be the perfect size to fit Bill's hand? It's the sort of fact that seems very bizarre out of context. JDS2005 09:28, 7 January, 2007 (UTC)

I suspect that increasing wealth tends to expose those pecularities we tend to hide (because when you're richer than everyone else, who cares what they think, eh?). In my own experience, the year I crossed the $36,000 per annum line, I became pretty much addicted to Cross pens because they write so well. As to why Bill's home has $2,000 doorknobs ... if you were building a $100MUS home, would you want common old door knobs from Home Depot like everyone elses? I think not. I wonder what they look like? Maybe that will be "Believe It Or Not!" topic some time. :-)

Seriously, it is really a beautiful home (at least from BCJ's pics). A really cool garage and a great reception (?) room with the "broken" wall. I like all the wood and open space. I have always thought that building a home into the environment was a lot more efficient; glad to see that Bill agreed. ;-) Over that the USNews site there is a description of a really cool library. I have always wanted a library to put out all the books and documents I've collected over 40+ years ... fat chance now ... sigh. JimScott 00:27, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

I think you kinda missed the point of my question here...You use Cross pens because they work so well. I wear a Breitling Aerospace watch because it keeps perfect time and has more functions than I can count. What's special about Bill's $2000 doorhandles? JDS2005 04:16, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I assume the reason for the handles is because this cnc machine makes the "best" handles in the world. He could have paid the same for antique handles taken from the Titanic wreckage, but instead he went for function. And it seems that the worlds best most functional door handle cost 2000 dollars each to make, or the same as my pride and joy car that took me years to save up for. JayKeaton 11:03, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Xanadu 2.0??

The opening header says the nickname refers to "the Xanadu Houses", without a citation. I think it more refers to the mansion in Citizen Kane, which was called Xanadu, which in turn, was modeled after the Hearst Castle. Anyway, there needs to be a citation here, or it needs to be removed. --rogerd 01:29, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Why was the reference to the Medina county's switch to Linux removed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 154.20.226.188 (talk) 19:47, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Six Inch Tree Move

"An existing cedar tree was determined by Gates to be in the wrong location and moved six inches." This doesn't have citation, and it seems petty and not notable. I suggest that it be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.227.106.41 (talk) 00:03, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree and what about this "Steven Ballmer drives a 1998 Lincoln Continental." I"m not sure how this is relevent to Bill's house.75.177.47.137 (talk) 08:36, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Needs Help

I came to the article expecting to learn all about the amazing technology and futuristic features. Oh well, I now know it has showers next to the (not particularly big) pool. :0) EdX20 (talk) 21:42, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

I dunno, that pool looks plenty big enough to swim laps in -- assuming Bill is a swimmer. I think you would need regular loosening up after perching on those very uncomfortable-looking bar stools. Nice bathroom, though. --Michael K Smith^Talk 00:08, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Xanadu 2.0 again

I have restored this alleged nickname, with a citation needed tag. If a source is not found in good time and the text is removed, please note that you also need to delete the redirect and remove the Xanadu 2.0 entry from Xanadu (disambiguation) MickMacNee (talk) 23:50, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Done with thanks. [2] MickMacNee (talk) 20:11, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Property Tax

The figure in the article is tax paid in 2008. The amount paid in 2009 was $1,003,801.95. This is available on the King County website, which lets you look up property tax for any address. Iglew (talk) 22:55, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Stolen text

Has no one noticed that the text on this page, especially in the "Details" section, was lifted almost word-for-word from the Sunsurfer website, a link to which appears on the page? This needs a rewrite -- preferably with information gathered from more than a single source. (Seattle newspaper articles? Architecture magazines?) --Michael K Smith^Talk 00:02, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Two or more people with different tastes in the same room?

Imagine that two people, one who likes chilly climate and heavy metal and the other guy who loves classical music and warmth enter the same room. What's gonna happen? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.58.139.176 (talk) 13:32, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Coordinate error

{{geodata-check}}

The following coordinate fixes are needed for Bill Gates' house. Shouldn't this article be called Xanadu 2.0? Anyway the marker should be at 47°37'39.32"N 122°14'32.30"W —RThompson82 (talk) 07:56, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

 Done. On a Google map, the coordinates you've given indicate a point about 10 feet to the north of the coordinates given in the article, and both points appear to be on the Gates property. Nevertheless, I've tweaked the coordinates a bit to center on the portion of the house shown in the image in the article, to which the flight of stairs leads from the waterside. Deor (talk) 11:31, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Coordinate error

{{geodata-check}}

The following coordinate fixes are needed for The GEO URI in decimals doesn't match the coordinates (in/of) the degree/minutes/seconds value. Ends up being in the middle of a lake at the wrong address.

—99.196.100.186 (talk) 11:32, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

Could you clarify what you're seeing. It appears to me that both the decimal coordinates in the infobox (47.62774, -122.24195) and the converted d/m/s coordinates in the displayed article (47°37′40″N, 122°14′31″W) indicate the same spot, and it's not in the middle of a lake. Deor (talk) 13:12, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

Closing as  Not done, since my request for clarification remains unanswered after more than two days. Deor (talk) 13:26, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Bill Gates's house. Please take a moment to review my edit. You may add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it, if I keep adding bad data, but formatting bugs should be reported instead. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether, but should be used as a last resort. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/billionaire-homes-expensive-billionaires-2009-lifestyle-real-estate-homes_3.html?thisSpeed=30000 to http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/billionaire-homes-expensive-billionaires-2009-lifestyle-real-estate-homes_3.html?thisSpeed=30000

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 12:57, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Bill Gates's house. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20070928023214/http://www.bcj.com/public/projects/project/12.html to http://www.bcj.com/public/projects/project/12.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 19:30, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Bill Gates' house. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060104084936/http://www.usnews.com:80/usnews/tech/billgate/gates.htm to http://www.usnews.com/usnews/tech/billgate/gates.htm
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071011001511/http://www.usnews.com:80/usnews/tech/billgate/room1a.htm to http://www.usnews.com/usnews/tech/billgate/room1a.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 09:25, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Bill Gates's house. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130417180124/http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/blogs/dailyweekly/2008/05/gates_taxman_cometh.php to http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/blogs/dailyweekly/2008/05/gates_taxman_cometh.php
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100326042414/http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/billionaire-homes-expensive-billionaires-2009-lifestyle-real-estate-homes_3.html?thisSpeed=30000 to http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/billionaire-homes-expensive-billionaires-2009-lifestyle-real-estate-homes_3.html?thisSpeed=30000

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 06:24, 20 July 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 4 March 2019

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Not moved. (non-admin closure)  samee  converse  19:02, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

---

Bill Gates's house → Xanadu 2.0 – Common name for the property, as represented in the article. The target already redirects to the article. Lordtobi (✉) 22:02, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

This is a contested technical request (permalink). Anthony Appleyard (talk) 23:14, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

• @Lordtobi and Born2cycle: queried move request Anthony Appleyard (talk) 23:15, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
• Which is actually the common name is potentially controversial and needs discussion. --В²C ☎ 22:09, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
• Comment. The older sources don't really use Xanadu 2.0 very much. A google web search shows recent sources DO use Xanadu 2.0, but it seems like a case of citogenesis with some of these rather bloggy articles ("14 facts you wouldn't believe about Bill Gates house") seemingly explicitly citing Wikipedia for the Xanadu connection and the claim it was based on the Citizen Kane version (when the 1997 newspaper article only references the Shelly poem...). So I'm not sure how much weight those recent sources should really have. (I edited the lede a bit.) SnowFire (talk) 23:15, 6 March 2019 (UTC)
• Oppose per WP:RECOGNIZABILITY: I'm willing to bet there are at least five times as many people who would know what you're talking about if you use the current name instead of the proposed one. —BarrelProof (talk) 19:37, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

---

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Other real estate holdings

Variety Has a small list of other major real estate holdings by the family. These include an "equestrian estate in Rancho Santa Fe," "an equestrian estate in Wellington, Fla." and "a mini-mansion in Hobe Sound, Fla." It also mentions their daughter Jennifer has an equestrian property in New Jersey and a condo in New York. Ought any of this be included here?

https://variety.com/2020/dirt/moguls/bill-and-melinda-gates-pick-up-del-mar-oceanfront-mansion-1234590980/

''Paul, in Saudi'' (talk) 11:27, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Xanadu 2.0

I'm removing this. It was last discussed here 12 years ago, and no one has ever come up with justification for keeping it. You actually will find references to Xanadu 2.0, but I think it stems from this Wikipedia article! I don't see a high-quality source. Fnordware (talk) 19:26, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

It's back. Pretty confident this it citogenesis. Should we say so in the article? Fnordware (talk) 20:16, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

It's not quite citogenesis, but it is a case of Wikipedia vastly misinterpreting a source- https://money.usnews.com/money/business-economy/articles/1997/11/23/xanadu-20 the 1997 article is called "Xanadu 2.0" but somebody decided that the author of a random magazine article also got to name the home. Elevating a single obscure article's title as the home's title is not really correct, but it caused some source pollution afterward, since WP had it prominently bolded as an alternate name for more than a decade. SnowFire (talk) 20:40, 13 June 2021 (UTC)

The article just has a clever title and never mentions Xanadu 2.0 in the body; certainly does not claim that the house is formally or informally named that as our sourced claim. But Wikipedia once made that claim and now sources repeat it. Fnordware (talk) 06:50, 14 June 2021 (UTC)