George R.R. Martin, creator of Game of Thrones, has submitted plans to build a real-life 'castle' in his Santa Fe backyard. Neighbors, however, are refusing to bend the knee. The Daily Mail reports the author describing the structure as a "seven-sided library" in a planning application submitted to the City of Santa Fe.
See more from R.R. Martin's planning application submitted to the city, in the gallery of images below.
The GoT inspired project features a 27-foot-high tower, which seems to be the point of contention for the creator's neighbors. "We thought it was Winterfell when we first saw the plans," one of Martin's neighbors jokingly remarked. "All it was missing is Jon Snow and a couple of dragons."
R.R. Martin lives in a surprisingly normal house in a modest suburb of Santa Fe, as seen below.
Check out the castle-themed mailbox.
10 Comments
that's not giant in any form, it's just ugly
I'd allow it. Who cares if it's an eye sore (to some), if it does not violate any zoning regulations then the neighbour's don't have a say. It's private property and he's not responsible for other's perceived prop value.
I agree with you, and I wish he'd hire someone GOOD. Like these guys: https://www.becausewecan.design/
first they fuck up his story, now they fuck up his dream...
Generally, you don't build stuff like this in a historic district unless the historic district consists of similar style architecture which doesn't exist in Santa Fe. What he should do is buy a tract of land outside the city altogether where there is little to no regulation whatsoever, and build it with better execution... preferably from design through construction. Cities are prohibitive for stuff that is eccentric and far from stylistic norms because you have too many neighbors nearby within 300 or so feet or so or whatever is the normal notification area where neighbors are explicitly notified.
Choose a location that doesn't have neighbors that would be notified because if they are notified they'll NIMBY it because neighbors are a--holes and don't want anything that they feel will change the value of the property be it an increase or decrease of value (depending on whether they want to plan to sell it or they plan to live there and not pay a penny more in property taxes than they currently are). Anything that seems "out of place" or not harmonious to the character of what is contextually always affects the value of properties immediately surrounding the location within some impact area.
Do not build eccentric home designs (like this) that are not in character with what already exists in a city. They'll just NIMBY you until you spend all your money on lawyers to fight the legal fights until you give up.
Note to people here on this forum: I'm not judging the design. I'm not playing architectural critic here on this.
Shut up Balkins.
rwcb you just called the castle eccentric and out of character for the neighborhood. those are both judgment and criticism. the best solution would be he buys all the neighbors houses and demolishes them to make more room for his castle.
If I was the authority I'd let him, with a few conditions.
After his passing , it will be a museum and design should be done accordingly. If the neighbours are too much of a problem I'd even provide a suitable lot. This is a huge opportunity for the city.
Imagine Tolkien showing up at your door to convert his house to a Lord of the Rings type of castle without the city paying a dime.
Santa Fe shouldnt miss this.
I can't get past the old RX-7 in his driveway. Never saw the show, but I like this guy!
He's a pretty entertaining dude.
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