Water tower house listed for $5 million on California coast. You can’t beat the views
An historic piece of Southern California history has flowed onto the market. The famous Sunset Beach water tower home, which stretches 87 feet in the air, can be yours for $4.95 million.
According to Surf City USA, the water tower was erected in the late 1800s to service steam engines and a 75,000-gallon tank was put in during the 1940s, but was abandoned several decades later. In 1984, the water tank was removed and a “three story house that replicated the look of the tank was built on the ground before being hoisted by crane into place,” the website said.
Now, the 2,828 square-foot residence — with its four bedrooms and four bathrooms and breathtaking views — can be yours. And yes, there is an elevator. Along with the panoramic scenery, the house also comes with an indoor fire pit, wet bar, top-level observation deck and even a built-in fish tank, the listing on Relator.com said.
The home was once owned by Pasadena fire chief Gerald Wallace who bought it in 1995 for $800,000, Dirt reported. He tried to sell it off numerous times and even gouged up the price to a whopping $8 million. It was finally sold in 2016 for $1.7 million.
The listing found its way onto the popular Facebook page “Zillow Gone Wild,” as fans commented on the house uniqueness and, yes, made several “Animaniacs” jokes.
“I hope that has an elevator,” one person observed. “I’d like to know how they got all that furniture up there. And then when you come with groceries...egad!”
“My life expectancy just dwindled after thinking of carrying groceries into that place,” said another.
“I was about to say this looks absolutely worth it!” exclaimed another fan. “And then I saw the bar, and reality sank in. The drunken friends who don’t know how to climb stairs anymore... poor Steve.”
“What could be better than living in a $5 million house *and* ruining your neighbors’ property value at the same time?” joked one user.
Considering the fact that you can actually live in a water tower, a bunch of commenters took aim at the popular 1990s cartoon “Animanicas” where the main characters, Yakko, Wakko and Dot, lived in the Warner Bros. water tower over the studio lot.
“Looks a lot nicer than the one the Warner kids lived in,” said one.
“I didn’t know Yakko, Wakko and Dot were moving,” joked another.
This story was originally published June 7, 2021 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Water tower house listed for $5 million on California coast. You can’t beat the views."