West Bellevue House

If you could fill a sizable $4 million house with anything that makes you happy, what would you choose? The owners of this West Bellevue House in Washington certainly figured out what their own priorities are: housing and admiring sixteen cars in a central garage that basically acts as a gallery space, with the actual living spaces seeming almost like an afterthought.

16-car garage house

Car gallery house

The garage entrance leads into a large, high-ceilinged room with the feel of a place of worship crossed with an automobile showroom. The clearly revered vehicles have their very own car lift and workshop. The entire home was built around showcasing, accommodating and moving the luxury cars around. Check out the central portico where we can only presume the owner places his favorite car of the moment. Do you think he rotates through all of them, giving them equal time in the special spot that’s highly visible to the sitting room?

Entrance to garage

Car elevator

The owners can gaze upon their most treasured possessions from behind the sliding glass doors that lead to the living room and kitchen, even while cooking. If you spent that much money on such a large number of luxury cars, you might want to keep a steady eye on them, too.

Garage House living room

Cars from outside

But it does kind of seem like all of this elevation of automobiles leaves the rest of the house in the dust, design-wise. With only two bedrooms and a material palette that feels – appropriately enough – like the showroom at your local mid-level car dealership, it seems like this space is less of a residence and more of an inhabitable garage. Definitely one of the weirder houses we’ve seen.

So who would want to own such a place? Seattle Bubble did some sleuthing, and it turns out, this extraordinary house is owned by local hotel magnate Rodney Olson, former President and CEO of WestCoast Hotels (now called Red Lion Hotels). Unsurprisingly, he’s also a major car aficionado. His own personal automobile palace was built in 2008.