Famed Olympic luger Joe Barile has listed his Lake Placid mansion for $28.5 million.
Barile, 64, and his wife Pat Barile have put their 70-acre property in the mountains on the market.
The finished Lake Placid home features hand-cut stone walls, elaborate ironwork, flying buttresses, and bronze windows and doors, all the result of more than two decades of construction.
The mansion will set the record for the most expensive home ever sold in the Lake Placid area if it sells for anywhere near its asking price. The current record was set in 2005 when an adjacent ranch sold for $13 million.
The property, located beneath the high peaks of the Southern Adirondacks, includes a private 5-acre pond with a waterfall and small stream. It also borders the west branch of the Ausable River.
Basile, who also owns the White Face Lodge and its parent company, the Lake Placid Group, told the Wall Street Journal he paid $5 million for the property in 2007 from the estate of the late carburetor manufacturer and inventor George Holley.
Famed Olympic luger Joe Barile, 64, has listed his Lake Placid mansion for sale for $28.5 million.
The finished Lake Placid home features hand-cut stone walls, elaborate ironwork, flying buttresses, and bronze windows and doors, all the result of more than two decades of construction.
The mansion will set the record for the most expensive home ever sold in the Lake Placid area if it sells for anywhere near its asking price.
The property, located beneath the high peaks of the Southern Adirondacks, includes a private 5-acre pond with a waterfall and small stream.
Joe told the Wall Street Journal that he paid $5 million for the property in 2007 from the estate of the late carburetor maker and inventor George Holley.
Covering approximately 15,000 square feet, the main house includes five bedrooms, a gym, a wine cellar, ten native stone fireplaces and a bowling alley.
The Bariles demolished the existing house and spent seven years on the initial construction, before moving into the new house in 2015.
Covering approximately 15,000 square feet, the main house includes five bedrooms, a gym, a wine cellar, ten native stone fireplaces and a bowling alley. It also includes a two-family farm and several outbuildings.
The property’s electricity comes from a hydroelectric station which uses a dam on the river to provide most of the estate’s electricity. Holley personally knew Thomas Edison, whose company designed the dam after his death.
The Holleys owned an oil photo of Edison that hangs in the house, and Joe said he intended to pass it on to the buyer.
Barile began work on his Lake Placid home in 2008. Instead of always working with an architect or following a predetermined plan, he added other flourishes as the building project progressed.
The lead roof was specially made by craftsmen from the UK, who lived on the property for almost four years while the works took place.
Barile specifically hired Polish carpenters to complete the oak details and imitate the flying buttresses that Barile had observed in European castles and churches.
The Olympian said the on-site stone quarries supplied all the stone for the property, as cutting some of the stones took almost an entire day.
“When you’re trying to create art, you can’t rush,” he told the WSJ.
Barile said his wife was frustrated with the plan and wanted the couple and their two children to move into the house before they went to college.
“She repeatedly mentioned, ‘Let’s get this over with.’ Let’s get rid of the workers and start profiting,” Barile said.
The Olympian said the on-site stone quarries supplied all the stone for the property, as cutting some of the stone took almost an entire day (Photo: Joe Barile at the 1988 Winter Olympics
The property’s electricity comes from a hydroelectric plant, which uses a dam on the river to provide most of the estate’s electricity.
The mansion also borders the west branch of the Ausable River.
Barile specifically hired Polish carpenters to complete the oak details and imitate the flying buttresses that Barile had observed in European castles and churches.
The front of the house is still under construction, with Barile insisting on adding minor details.
Now that their two daughters have moved out, the house is too big for Joe and Pat. But Joe said he wouldn’t mind if the house never sold.
“Walking around the grounds, you feel like you’re in your own private national park,” he said.