Larry Ellison's Atherton home for sale Larry Ellison's Atherton home for sale (April 06, 2005)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

For an asking price of $25 million, Larry Ellison's house in Atherton could be yours.

The Japanese-style house, extensively remodeled in 1987, is on the market. It includes seven bedrooms and 7-1/2 baths on two levels, said listing agent Mary Gullixson of Alain Pinel Realtors.

Mr. Ellison's fondness for Japanese aesthetics clearly hasn't been limited to his Woodside estate. Located in West Atherton near the Menlo Circus Club, the property's almost-three-acre grounds include a traditional tea house, Japanese-style strolling gardens, a koi pond, and waterfalls.

There's a rock-lined, dark-bottomed swimming pool and landscaping designed by Ron Herman and executed by Japanese artisans, Ms. Gullixson said.

Viewed from the house's many windows and sliding glass doors, the landscaping is designed to produce bursts of color with the changing seasons, she said.

The house is also outfitted with traditional Japanese shoji screens and two tatami rooms with the traditional woven straw floor mats.

The bath house, which includes an outdoor wooden soaking tub, was designed by Paul Discoe, a Zen monk, who founded Joinery Structures, an Oakland architectural firm that uses traditional Asian timber-frame construction.

The house has been on the market for about two weeks, and there have been quite a few inquiries so far, Ms. Gullixson said.

There are a few non-Japanese notes. The property includes a clay tennis court, and a combination media/billiards room, as well as a dedicated home office with a sitting room.

Mr. Ellison has a 45-acre estate in Woodside modeled after a 16th Century Japanese villa; he lives there with his wife, Melanie Craft.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.