A wild and sprawling San Antonio estate has hit the market for the first time in 30 years, and the property is so over-the-top that it feels like a high-end resort on the edge of the Serengeti.
The six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bath mansion sits atop 1.35 secluded acres in Terrell Hills, and the interior of the $5.5 million home delivers surprises at every turn.
Perhaps the most surprising is the trophy room, a large space where every inch appears to be covered with horns, tusks and skulls. In one corner of the room, a massive taxidermy lion looks ready to roar back to life. The room’s shelves display even more lion heads. An elephant skull, a rhino skull and taxidermy cheetah — the latter frozen mid-growl — are also displayed where the soaring vaulted ceiling meets the walls.
Even areas elsewhere in the residence are decorated with animal skulls. Some are from this side of the Atlantic — deer and moose, for example — while others are from more exotic locales: African buffalos, impalas, springboks and a spiral-horned kudu. One room even has a taxidermy bear on its hind legs, ready to maul.
In a game room, a host can serve up drinks from a large, attached bar that’s so extensive in its amenities and size, it might be more accurately described as a tavern.
But this expansive dwelling doesn’t limit the fun to those over drinking age. In two separate children’s bedrooms, bunk beds are accompanied by foam pits for diving into and splashing around, sans water. One of the kids’ rooms also has climbing ropes, a climbing wall and monkey bars on the ceiling.
The adults have their own version of an activity space thanks to a private gym with an attached bathroom for showering off after a workout.
Guests or live-in staff have the privacy of their own wing in the house, located to the south. The living areas in the northern stretch include en suite bathrooms with their own marble tubs and walk-in closets so large that a rolling ladder is needed.
Throughout the ranch-style single-story home, French doors open onto a resort-like terrace and pool, where Texas temperatures just might be hot enough to continue the illusion of being transported to Africa.
This home is listed by Paula Coates with Engel & Völkers San Antonio. All photos and listing info via Realtor.com.
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