Experience the ornate opulence of the Coronado Castle’s Spanish Revival

It’s not entirely unusual for rich people to name their houses — just in the last year, we’ve visited La Casa de los Suenos in Del Mar, Maravilla in Rancho Santa Fe, and probably a few others. But if you’re going to name your house Coronado Castle, we’d better be looking at something pretty darned opulent. “Echoing with the kind of extravagance that underscored the 1920s, ‘Coronado Castle’ perfectly captures the era’s zeitgeist, rife with opulent tile flooring, ornate ironwork, and stained-glass touches,” the Zillow listing for the 14,242-square-foot mansion at 11227 F Street boasts. And that’s just the first sentence.

The home was originally built in 1925 by famed local architect Richard Requa at an estimated cost of $57,000 (a bit over $9 million in today’s dollars). More recently, a team of designers and builders performed a four-year remodel intended to integrate modern technology while retaining the century-old Spanish Revival feel. YouTube has not just one but two videos showcasing the house. The first is the typical slide-show style tour, but the second is a mini-documentary featuring the remodel crew talking about how impressive their work is. (There are also plenty of photos in the listing, which offer us plenty of opportunities to gawk.) The shorter tour video opens with some exterior drone footage establishing that yes, this is indeed a massive house set just a block from the beach on the south side of Coronado, a house that probably enjoys some great water views from the upper levels. And at just over a half-acre, the lot is also reportedly one of the largest residential parcels on the peninsula.

We’re a quarter of the way through the tour when we finally get to the front door, a dark-wood-and-wrought-iron affair with an arched top set at the end of a stone hallway, and it really does seem like something you’d find in a castle. Once that door opens, we’re in an “impressive turret that acts as an entry hall,” with high, exposed-beam arched ceilings and lots more custom iron work, both on the stair railing and in the candle holders on the wall. They’re probably LED replicas, but they still mesh well with the house’s aesthetic. The living and dining rooms have even more of these iron fixtures, including some massive chandeliers. The videographer seems to reads my mind when I want to pause and admire the custom carved wood ceilings in the dining room, even going so far as to zoom in on some of the more intricate work.

The “capacious kitchen is poised for entertaining, appointed with an 80-inch La Cornue range and rotisserie, double Sub-Zero fridge, Miele steam oven and coffee station, plus wet bar.” The range is huge, with enough spacing between burners to allow for multiple large pots and pans at once. I want this range. Too bad it’s literally larger than the longest wall in my kitchen.

Next we’re going to head outside to the pool deck and walled garden. We don’t see it in the video, but the covered loggia off to one side of the pool features a massive outdoor dining area with seating for 14, plus a living space where couches wrap around a fireplace and wall-mounted TV. Just outside, there’s a secondary kitchen with built-in grill, island bar, and (once again) a pizza oven.

Back to the video: we get to see some of the other outdoor amenities, including “an 18-hole chipping and putting green” surrounded by olive trees that are now over 100 years old. Returning to the interior, we climb stairs and stop to admire some more hand-carved and painted woodwork on the way to the main bedroom, where we find more ornate woodwork on the ceiling and what looks to be a marble fireplace. The bathroom is bigger than any bathroom has a right to be, with a freestanding tub in the middle of the room. Moving on, we come to an office at the top of the turret and stop to peek at the ocean views before we go out on the roof. “Evoking a 5-star feel with firepit lounge, wet bar, and dining area, the turret’s third-floor roof deck affords panoramic ocean views,” the listing promises, and the deck does not disappoint.

Finally, we’re back inside and descending to the “lavish basement...boasting a golf simulator, large great room, 26-seat movie theater, gym, and spa.” Stick all that in a basement and I suppose you’ve earned the right to use adjectives like lavish – there’s even a life-size Darth Vader and a couple of storm troopers tucked into cutouts in the theater, and a wall lined with surfboards in the gym.

Originally built for “business magnate” W.A. Gunn (a historical plaque denotes the residence as the “W.A. Gunn House” — fancy houses may get a name but this one is so outrageous it gets two!), public records indicate current ownership lies with Brian Mariotti, CEO of the pop culture toy company Funko. The last reported sales price in 2017 was $12.2 million, but thanks to the Mills Act, which gives generous property tax breaks to owners of historic homes, it’s taxed on a value of just over $3.6 million. Coronado Castle (or Gunn House) went back on-market in late March; its asking price of $39 million remains unchanged to date.

• 1127 F AVENUE| Coronado, 92118
• Current owner: Brian and Shannon Mariotti | Listing price: $39,000,000 | Beds: 4 | Baths: 9 | House size: 14,242