Mark Zuckerberg buys a castle in Ireland — the dining room is a 'brisk walk of four and a half minutes' to the kitchen

Strancally castle is located in County Waterford in the southern part of the island. It was originally built around 1830 and was said to be designed “on a lavish scale; it took a brisk walk of four and a half minutes to reach the dining room from the kitchen,” according to a description in the book “The Houses of Ireland.”

The castle spans 16,000 square feet and has been owned for the past 25 years by Michael Alen-Buckley, cofounder of private investment firm RAB Capital.

The sale amount was not disclosed, but it’s estimated to be between €20 million and €30 million ($23 million to $35 million USD). Zuckerberg isn’t the area’s only billionaire. Just down the road is Ballynatray House, which was bought by James Dyson, inventor of the Dyson vacuum and other products, in 2024.

A growing portfolio

Zuckerberg first started kicking around the idea of an old Irish home last summer, when he reportedly offered to buy an estate in Kildare from Liberty Media’s John Malone.

“He [Zuckerberg] said, ‘I’ve heard it was one of the most beautiful places in Ireland,’ and I said ‘Yeah, probably, but it ain’t for sale,’” Malone told The Wall Street Journal.

Strancally castle is now one of several properties Zuckerberg owns around the world. His primary residence, of course, is in Palo Alto near Meta’s headquarters. Zuckerberg’s California compound is made up of five homes in the Crescent Park neighborhood, including one that reportedly has a custom-made artificially intelligent assistant.

He also owns two waterfront properties in Lake Tahoe, spanning more than 7,500 square feet, which cost him $59 million. In February of this year, he bought a $170 million mansion in Miami, which was one of the country’s most expensive real estate purchases. That nine-bedroom abode measures roughly 30,000 square feet and includes a swimming pool, a gym, a library, a hair salon and a dock.

The big compound

Zuckerberg’s biggest piece of real estate, however, is in Kauai, Hawaii. Koolau Ranch, which covers more than 1,700 acres, has made Zuckerberg one of the largest landowners in Hawaii. Zuckerberg purchased the ranch in 2014, when it covered just 700 acres and has since added roughly 1,000 acres of land to the property.

Zuckerberg is constructing a massive compound on the property and workers on the project are under strict non-disclosure agreements. Even the casual mention of the project on social media is grounds for dismissal.

Wired, though, obtained plans for the compound and reported the ranch will have over a dozen buildings, with at least 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms. There will be two mansions, spanning 57,000 square feet with elevators, offices, conference rooms and an industrial kitchen. Those will be joined by a tunnel, which branches off into the underground bunker, which has a living space and a mechanical room, as well as an escape hatch.

Also planned are 11 treehouses, linked via treetop rope bridges, as well as a full-sized gym with pools, a hot tub, sauna and tennis court. A six-foot wall surrounds portions of the property to ensure privacy.