Internationally Inspired Homes

For some foreign-born American homeowners, nothing feels more familiar and welcoming than living in a residence styled after those in their homeland. Other homebuyers just want to live in homes that resemble the beautiful residences they admired while abroad.

But whether you’d rather call home a casa, a villa, a chalet, or a hôtel particulier (the last which is not, mind you, a hotel), you can probably find it waiting somewhere in this melting pot’s real estate market. That seems to particularly be the case if you’re looking to buy in California, judging by the locations of the following 10 homes.

The folks at Realtor.com highlighted these residences as being excellent examples of international inspired styles. Click ahead to see which you find the most like home.

By Colleen KanePublished September 7, 2011

Price: $999,000
Location: Agua Dulce, Calif.
Beds / Baths: 3 / 3
Square Footage: 3,800

This two-story Swiss chalet-style home looks like the Old Country, but it’s less than a decade old. It was custom built in 2003 on 10 acres and features distressed hardwood floors, hand-carved kitchen cabinets, and lots of other custom woodwork and ironwork. Exterior features include a caretaker’s cottage and a wading pool with waterfalls.

Price: $5.495 million
Location: Atlanta
Beds / Baths: 4 / 7
Square Footage:  N/A

This home was designed by Atlanta architect Yong Pak in the 18th century hôtel particulier style. As such, the home is laid out around a central courtyard with a fountain and pavilion. With 14-foot high ceilings, decorative boisserie wall panels, limestone and parquet de Versailles floors, and hand wrought iron balustrades, the residence could not get much more French while still being located in the U.S.

Price: $5.395 million
Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.
Beds / Baths:  6 / 5
Square Footage: 5,021

If there were room for a large house in Tokyo, it might look like this, although a 5,000-plus-square-foot house for one family is more in the American style than that of the Japanese. It’s a beauty of a hybrid, though, with dazzling ocean views, as well as stone floors, cathedral ceilings, and solar power.

Price: $35.750 million
Location: Napa, Calif.
Beds / Baths: 3 / 6
Square Footage: 7,804

It’s no coincidence that this Napa Valley mansion is located on Money Road. If you are not already in possession of your own golden-bricked road of money, look away now from the nearly $36 million price tag.

The wording of Ville Mille Rose’s real estate listing is similarly blunt: “The incomparable Villa Mille Rose Estate is probably the most exquisite property to ever become available in Napa Valley.” The 57-acre parcel of properties includes 43 acres of vineyards, guest quarters, barns, and a 100-tree fruit orchard and a Gold Medal olive orchard.

Price: $9.995 million
Location: Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
Beds / Baths: 4 / 8
Square Footage: 8,735

This Spanish hacienda-style house was custom built by Steve Sharratt and features an interior courtyard, lush vegetation, tiled verandas, an art studio, a private wing, a pool, and hand-crafted closet cabinetry, as well as ocean views. Exterior features include a gym, guesthouses, garages, storage areas, and garden paths.

Price: $7.980 million
Location: Annapolis, Md.
Beds / Baths: 5 / 7
Square Footage: 11,000

This English Tudor mansion demands a dignified name, and so it has one: Stonewater. The home is located on a private cove, with deepwater boating access to the South River and Chesapeake Bay. The residence is well appointed for tennis, swimming, sailing, or relaxing by one of seven fireplaces.

Price: $14 million
Location: Alpine/Cresskill, N.J.
Beds / Baths: 9 / 13
Square Footage: approx. 18,000

This French chateau is located partly in the celeb enclave of Alpine and partly in Cresskill, N.J. Yes, the mansion is so big that it is located in two towns, or at least the unaddressed listing says so. It features a banquet-sized dining room, mahogany-paneled library, an indoor pool, a party room, landscaped gardens, and a tennis court.

Price: $24 million
Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.
Beds / Baths:  7 / 11
Square Footage: N/A

The circa-1924 Italian villa, situated on 7.39 acres, was designed by Carlton Winslow and is called one of Montecito’s Seven Crown Jewels. It has panoramic ocean and valley vistas, as well as a pool, guesthouse, tennis court, Japanese water garden, a private well, and three gated entrances.

Price:  $2.450 million
Location: Seattle
Beds / Baths:  5 / 6
Square Footage: 4,500

This Craftsman home is nearly a century old, yet looks completely in line with current scale preferences and modern tastes. The many small-pane window details can look either Craftsman or Japanese. It comes with a 400-square-foot Japanese teahouse facing Asian-style gardens. It is situated in Seattle’s South Slope, with water and city views.

Price: $7.895 million
Location: Tiburon, Calif.
Beds / Baths: 5 / 8
Square Footage: 7,600

For homebuyers who don’t wish to choose a specific country to emulate, and who have nearly $8 million dollars to spend, there’s always this Mediterranean villa. It was designed with entertaining and displaying art in mind and offers panoramic San Francisco Bay views.