Billion Dollar House #8
Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey
Ottoman-o-man. For the homebuyer with an appetite for history and eclectic tastes, this 15th-century estate is fit for a sultan. The 173-acre compound includes gardens, courtyards, kitchens, armories, baths, fountains and a large collection of jewels, swords, carpets, paintings and art. Prospective buyers need not worry about space for servants' quarters--at its prime the palace housed the reigning sultan, his harem, eunuchs and 4,000 workers, as well as an on-site medical clinic.
Over the past 400 years, about 25 sultans from the Ottoman Empire have all lived comfortably here, although some were brutally murdered and thrown into the nearby Bosporus. The palace was built to last: It has survived earthquakes and fires since it was first built between 1465 and 1478 for the Ottoman Empire's Sultan Mehmed II.
