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The Midpeninsula has no shortage of seriously unique homes. From a historic Dutch Colonial with ties to a world-renowned physicist in Los Altos Hills to a Spanish-style home with a custom-built 20-car garage complete with a map of the Ferrari test track in Italy engraved on its floor, these one-of-a-kind properties – whether because of their price, unusual design or history – are notable even for Silicon Valley. We’ve compiled a list of some of these not-so-ordinary properties that are on the market right now – or recently sold.
$27.15M
Marc Andreessen’s mini Tuscan mansion
3 levels, 12,000 sq. ft., soundproof suede walls
Atherton
Recently sold
With soundproof suede walls, an elevator and multiple kitchens for private chefs and large-scale entertaining, this Tuscan-inspired mini mansion in West Atherton was designed for one of Silicon Valley’s prominent billionaire couples.
For nearly two decades, this 12,200-square-foot home served as the primary residence of tech pioneer Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and his wife, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, daughter of Silicon Valley philanthropist and developer John Arrillaga and founder of the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation.
The home sold for $27.15 million, or $2,182 a square foot, on Aug. 12, nearly 18 months after it went on the market.
The property was initially listed for $33.3 million in March 2024, before its price was reduced to $29.5 million this past May, according to the property’s sales history on Redfin.
The property went on the market after Andreessen reportedly spent more than $250 million on multiple properties in Malibu over the course of six months in 2022, the Real Deal reported at the time.
Built in 1995, the property underwent a “total transformation” after the couple purchased it for $16.6 million in 2007, according to the sales listing on Zillow.
Designed to host philanthropic events, the main home features multiple living rooms, including one with a cream-hued fireplace and floor-to-ceiling French doors leading to a private balcony and another with soundproof suede walls. The home also is equipped with two kitchens, and one bay of the four-car garage has been converted into a versatile office or caterer’s space, complete with appliances and “ample space for event management or a property manager’s daily operations,” according to the listing.
The three-level home also features five-bedrooms, seven-baths, an elevator, home theater, gym, seven fireplaces and a family room that opens to a covered terrace sporting a built-in cooking area. The 1.55-acre property also comes with a one-bedroom guest house, a detached studio and its own irrigation well.
$6.01M
Plans for SLAC drafted at this historic home
5,172 sq. ft., original period details, bay views
Los Altos Hills
Recently sold
Once home to world-renowned physicist Wolfgang Panofsky, this historic Dutch Colonial in Los Altos Hills is said to have welcomed a roster of scientific leaders — from Nobel Prize–winning scientists and international innovators to cultural figures like Frank Oppenheimer, brother of the J. Robert Oppenheimer (the “father of the atomic bomb”), according to SF Gate . It was also here where plans for the 2-mile Stanford Linear Accelerator Center were reportedly drafted.
Panofsky, a nuclear energy consultant for the Manhattan Project during World War II who later advised multiple U.S. presidents on nuclear arms control, served as the founding director of SLAC and oversaw research that earned him the National Medal of Science in 1969 and produced three Nobel Prizes.
Panofsky and his wife, Adele, reportedly purchased the 5,172-square-foot shingled home in 1951, the same year he joined Stanford University as a professor. The home remained in the family for more than 70 years.
The 2.17-acre hilltop property was listed on the market for $5.5 million on June 18 and sold for $6.01 million on July 30, according to Redfin.
Built in the early 1900s as a summer home for a retired sea captain, the Dutch Colonial home stood out architecturally among the Spanish-style homes that dotted the area at the time. Inside, it stood out too: The home, built before municipal electricity, was equipped with its own generator and modern appliance outlets, according to SF Gate.
Over the years, much of the home’s original character has been preserved. The home features original redwood shingles, large hand-blown glass windows, a distinctive sunroom on each level, and period details throughout – from the original lighting fixtures to the preserved glass doorknobs and exposed ceiling beams and interior woodwork, according to the sales listing. The primary suite includes the original claw-foot tub, which Adele embellished with a hand-painted peacock.
$14.78M
Spanish-style home with 20-car garage
Detached 5,500-sq-ft. garage, wine cellar, home theater
Los Altos Hills
On the market
This 10,700-square-foot Spanish-style home has all the amenities one might expect to find in a multi-million-dollar home on the Peninsula: a wine cellar, home theater, elevator and luxury spa with a home gym that includes a sauna, steam shower and in-floor hot tub surrounded by sculpted gardens, fountains, a pool and an outdoor gazebo with a built-in kitchen.
The detached garage, however, steals the show at this 2.5 acre-property.
Built from the ground up in 2015 for a Google exec and his car-racing wife, this 5,500-square-foot luxury garage has space for 20 cars, as well as boats and RVs, according to the sales listing.
The duo reportedly purchased the home in 2010 and designed the garage five years later to house their growing collection of blue-chip cars. By 2018, the collection was worth about $30 million and included multiple Ferraris, a McLaren and a Rolls-Royce (a bespoke Dawn Black Badge) personally delivered to them by the brand’s CEO, Torsten Muller-Otvos, at Pebble Beach, they told the Hollywood Reporter.
The garage features interior stone arches, an entertainment area with a built-in marble fireplace and a luminous engraving of the Ferrari test track in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, on the floor.
The home last sold in 2010 for $8.2 million. It was listed for $16.75 million in 2024 and relisted at its current price in March 2025.
$29.9M
Among top 10 ‘Most Expensive Homes’ in July
Pub-style bar, 12-car underground garage
Atherton
On the market
This historic Mediterranean Revival-style home was among the priciest listings in the United States for the week of July 29, ranking No. 8 on Redfin’s Most Expensive Homes.
Built in 1922, the six-bedroom, nine-bath home features custom moldings, European fireplaces, parquet floors, Palladian-style arched windows and intricate period details throughout, including the twisted fluted columns and an elaborately decorated pediment with scrollwork and floral motifs that adorn the front portico.
The three-level, 10,772-square-foot home comes with a 10-seat theater, fitness center, library, wine cellar, a billiards room with a pub-style bar and a primary suite with its own steam room, according to the sales listing. The 1.45-acre property features heritage trees, sculpted gardens, a 12-car underground garage, a swimming pool and hot tub, an outdoor kitchen and a two-bedroom guesthouse.
The home was listed on the market on July 10. It last sold in 1987 for $1.65 million, according to Redfin.
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