Bat Sheba’s Palace, a jaw dropping $210 million mansion in Caesarea, Israel, is the sort of place that makes even the White House look a bit modest, which is not a sentence you expect to read on a Saturday.
It stretches across 73,700 square feet, which is a number so big it stops meaning anything unless you’ve tried to hoover it. You’d need a week, a packed lunch, and possibly a small team.
Nestled between Tel Aviv and Haifa, Caesarea – the town where this property is located – is hardly short on history. This place dates back to Roman times, named after Augustus Caesar, with ruins that have quietly watched centuries pass—harbor, aqueduct, amphitheater, the usual hits. These days it’s rather more polished and a tourist hot spot. Cafés, galleries, a golf club, and property prices that suggest everyone there has done quite well for themselves.
And then there’s this house.
It sits right at the front, facing the sea with a sort of quiet certainty. It was completed in 2015, designed by Citterio F.lli with Cristiano Mattia Ferme in charge, alongside Yuri Puchinsky, and landscaped by Mor Avidan. Which is quite a lot of people, but then it’s quite a lot of house. The style leans heavily into neo-Baroque and Rococo. That means columns, flourishes, decorative enthusiasm—nothing here whispers. It all speaks at a comfortable volume.
Inside, it’s a parade of materials that sound like they’ve been borrowed from a museum or possibly a particularly ambitious jewellery box. Marble, onyx, lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye, malachite. Then there’s gold leaf. Not a touch here and there, but properly committed, 14-karat, catching the light from chandeliers that could probably double as small satellites.
Columns rise up in the Corinthian style, ceilings are painted, floors are inlaid with patterns you’d hesitate to walk on in outdoor shoes. Even the stained glass seems to have a theme, leaning into gardens and nature, as if the outside wasn’t already doing that job.
The main house alone is enormous. A grand salon, several smaller lounges for when the grand salon feels like overkill, a billiards room with a bar, and a game room large enough to host something approaching a village fête. The ceiling there mimics a starry sky, which is charming, though again, the real one is available nearby.
There are two kosher kitchens, both professional-grade. I like this detail. It suggests a certain seriousness about food, even in a house where you could easily lose the fridge.
The spa complex sits separately, connected underground like a secret. It has nearly 10,000 square feet dedicated to complete relaxation: an indoor pool, swim spa, a hammam, gym, several massage rooms and even hairdressing suites. It’s less a spa and more a small country dedicated to relaxation.
Bedrooms? Five. Bathrooms? Also five, plus ten powder rooms, which feels faintly excessive until you imagine hosting a party here. Then it makes perfect sense.
The pools deserve a mention as well. The indoor pool sits beneath a vaulted stained-glass skylight, with mosaic tiles below depicting shells in delicate arrangements. Outside, another pool runs to the edge in that infinity style, blending into the horizon in a way that makes you wonder where exactly it ends.
Fountains appear with some frequency. One in the motor court, tiered and assertive. Another between the house and spa pavilion, decorated with golden statues. There’s a theme emerging here, and it’s “more is better.”
Practicalities haven’t been ignored, which is reassuring. Staff apartments, a full backup generator, smart-home systems, security that doesn’t sleep, climate control across multiple zones. You could live here quite comfortably without ever needing to check if the lights were off.
The story behind it is equally large. Reports suggest it was built by Valery Kogan, a man who clearly doesn’t think in small increments. He’s known for high-end property moves, including a rather ornate apartment at the Plaza in New York and a substantial place in Tel Aviv.
There’s also that wedding in 2017, where Mariah Carey and Elton John reportedly performed. Which gives you a sense of scale. When your entertainment budget includes global pop royalty, a house like this starts to feel consistent.
It first appeared on the market in 2020 for $269 million. Now it’s back at $210 million with Davidson Real Estate, which is still an eye-watering figure, though technically a hefty discount. A curious way to think about it, but there we are.
Would anyone need a house like this? Of course not. That’s not the point.
It exists because someone decided to build it, and because there’s a certain fascination in pushing things to their absolute limit—space, detail, extravagance. It’s architecture as a kind of declaration.
And, quietly, it does make the White House look a little bit… modest.
