The most expensive home for sale in the Midwest is in Indiana
SANTA CLAUS, Indiana – The most expensive home currently for sale in the entire Midwest and beyond, according to Zillow, will set you back $47,900,000, but the sale includes more than just one house.
Located near the southern border of Indiana, Big Tree Farm is a 550-acre, or 0.86-square-mile, estate that includes a main house, a guest residence building, an entertainment facility also known as the Honky Tonk Roadhouse, a full 1950s-style restaurant, and its own restaurant. Classic Car Museum, among many other facilities.
In all, the property includes 65,000 square feet of roof space, 15 beds, 16 full bathrooms, three half-baths, eight lakes, and a 2,042-square-foot pool. Additional amenities include an archery range, tennis facility, basketball court, log cabin playground, horseshoe pit, multiple stone fire pits, and woodland nature trails.
The main residence is inspired by a traditional mountain log cabin. Offering 8,786 square feet of living space, six bedrooms, five full and two half bathrooms, the entire building is covered by a porch and includes an outdoor basement.
The 8,350-square-foot guest quarters, also known as The Stables, have the appearance of a horse stable on the outside, but inside the three-bedroom, two-bathroom suites are influenced by the Four Seasons Hotel New York. Separate from the main residence, this building has shared living spaces and a fitness centre. It’s also where the property’s main pool can be found which comes with a covered outdoor bar and dining space.
Located at 5382 E State Road 162 in Santa Claus, Indiana, its owner and creator is millionaire P. Edward Ewing. Ewing made his fortune by combining real estate and business management. He grew up in nearby Jasper, and in an interview with Palmetto House, he described the origin of his dream of a big tree farm when he saw the white fences and green pastures of a Kentucky farm when he was about 12 years old.
About 30 years later, he was financially successful enough to purchase his first 100 acres. According to the interview mentioned above, the development began with the “party barn” which later became the entertainment facility. From there, a slow and methodical buildup occurred over the next three decades. Ewing says in the interview that he personally installed every flag and ran all the design wire for each of the nearly 20,000 trees, all of the 3.5 miles of trails, and every landscape bed.
To put the sheer size of this property into perspective, one acre is approximately 209 feet long and wide. This means that if the property were perfectly square, it would be about 5,000 feet long and wide, roughly a mile in each direction. This is equivalent to about 400 football fields. For those who know Chicago, one city block is about 3 acres making Big Tree Farm worth more than 183 city blocks. For a final comparison, let’s assume that the average home is located on a quarter-acre lot. This property could be one of over 2,000 single family homes.
Aside from the living spaces, Big Tree Farm includes a 9,124-square-foot entertainment facility that can accommodate 600 seated guests, a 2,400-square-foot 1950s restaurant that seats 150 guests, and a 26,413-square-foot car museum with room for 250 Vehicle (car kit not included) and attached 2,400 square foot vehicle maintenance facility. All of this is in addition to the aforementioned archery range, tennis facility, basketball court, miniature log cabin playground, horseshoe pit, multiple stone fire pits, and woodland nature trails.
Zillow listing here.
Property website: BigTreeFarm.com
Listing Agent: Kara Henshaw
