Mark Zuckerberg’s new Irish home is so large that walking from its dining room to the kitchen reportedly takes four and a half minutes.
Strancally Castle contains approximately 16,000 square feet and sits on 440 acres beside the River Blackwater. The Gothic mansion was built around 1830 for John Keily, a Conservative MP, then restored over 25 years by financier Michael Alen-Buckley and his wife Giancarla.
Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan bought the estate privately for an estimated €20 million to €30 million. The exact price remains undisclosed. His family will continue living in the United States and use the castle while visiting Ireland, where Meta maintains its international headquarters.
Even among billionaire properties, the economics are unusual. The Guardian estimates that the entire castle and its 440 acres cost roughly one-tenth as much as Zuckerberg’s 387-foot yacht.
He is also joining a cluster of technology billionaires buying historic Irish estates. Stripe co-founder John Collison purchased Abbey Leix in 2021. James Dyson bought Ballynatray House, another estate in the Blackwater Valley, in 2024.
Silicon Valley created fortunes by making distance disappear.
Its founders are spending some of those fortunes buying enough land to bring distance back.
