Wondering what happened with the queen of Versailles? We’ve got the update. Almost a decade ago, Jacqueline and David Siegel‘s extravagant project to build the largest private residence in the U.S.—named Versailles, natch—ground to a halt as the recession dented their fortune. The rise and fall of their grand ambitions were captured in a critically acclaimed 2012 documentary, “The Queen of Versailles.”
The plans for the American Versailles, a 90,000-square-foot behemoth near Orlando, FL, seemed to have one overarching goal: to make the French original look shabby by comparison. Did Marie Antoinette have 10 kitchens, an ice skating rink, and a 5,000-square-foot closet? We think not.
But when hard times hit, the unfinished estate was put up for sale—with no takers. It was all in the film, which made a big splash at the Sundance Film Festival but horrified the Siegels, who filed a defamation lawsuit (which a judge later dismissed).
But now the colorful couple—he is the owner of time-share provider Westgate Resorts, she’s a former beauty queen—is back on track with their dream. Having recovered their financial footing, they have resumed construction of their beloved Versailles with plans to make it more lavish than ever.
Catching up with the queen of Versailles
Curious to hear what the queen of Versailles is up to now, we caught up with her—over fried mozzarella sticks and Champagne—to hear her grand plans for her much maligned megamansion.
Question: When the documentary ended, you had put an unfinished Versailles on the market. What’s up with the mansion now?
Jacqueline Siegel: Well, we put it up for sale, but we weren’t really selling it. To satisfy the bankers, they told us to list a bunch of our properties, but it wasn’t like we had to sell it. So now we’re finishing and keeping Versailles. Of course, if anyone wants to offer us a crazy amount of money, we would take it.
Q: What would be considered a “crazy amount of money”?
JS: Probably over $100 million. We’ve got over $50 million [invested] in it now and will spend a lot more before it’s done.
Q: When do you expect Versailles to be completed?
JS: It should be livable by May third of next year, for my husband’s birthday. At least that’s the plan right now. By then it should be done enough to move in, but I’m sure there will be a lot of finishing touches still to be done.
Q: So it appears that your husband’s business, Westgate Resorts, has rebounded?
JS: Yes. His business is doing great. He just had one of the best years ever. Last summer he bought the Las Vegas Hilton, which is a 3,000-room hotel where Elvis Presley used to perform. He bought the Orlando Predators, a football team, and then he bought the Coco Beach Pier, which—I didn’t even know you could buy a pier. I didn’t know those kinds of things were for sale.
Q: When you started building, 90,000 square feet would have been the largest home in America. Now, a couple of spec homes over 100,000 square feet are in the works. Will you add another 10,000 or more to keep Versailles at the top?
JS: With the spec homes, they’re not one house under one roof. They’re including guesthouses and all the extra buildings. Those are compounds. Ours is 90,000 all under one roof. I could throw in a bunch of guesthouses, too, to make ours bigger, and we probably will, but the 90,000 square feet is just in the main house—and doesn’t count the guardhouse, the tennis house, and all that.
Q: What’s your favorite part of the house?
JS: My favorite part is probably the ballroom. It’s going to be spectacular. We have a dome with beautiful and colorful inlaid glass in the ceiling. That was over half a million dollars and took the artist a few years to make. It’s like something you’d see in the Vatican. I plan on having the floor set with semiprecious stones to kind of mirror the image of the dome. Lapis and onyx and things like that. I plan on throwing a lot of charity events there. I love entertaining, and I love making other people happy. When they see this room, people are going to be really happy.
Q: Are there still going to be 10 kitchens? What do you do with so many?
JS: Everyone always asks that! So, we have a commercial kitchen for our catered events, with stainless-steel refrigerators and everything. We’re going to have a kitchen with a sushi bar and a hibachi grill, which we can also use like a griddle for brunches, so it will serve two purposes. Then we’ll have a normal, family kitchen that I can cook in, and my kids can be there with me. Then all of the staff quarters have kitchens, and all the guest suites have kitchenettes, so you don’t have to get on the elevator and walk 100 yards to get a glass of milk in the middle of the night.
Q: I heard your office is going to have a giant shark tank.
JS: Yes, the thing with that is that we were approached by the TV show “Tanked,” and they heard that I was going to put a fish tank in there, and they said they wanted us to be on their show. So we met with them and came up with the idea of building the largest shark tank in a private residence. And we’d have Sea World maintain it. And then I want a jellyfish tank, too.
Q: The documentary made it appear that Versailles caused a strain on your marriage. Is that true?
JS: I actually think it was good for our marriage. I personally feel that he [David] kind of exaggerated our position in order to pull the reins in on my spending. Like most husbands, he thought I spent too much on my credit cards. But I think it made us stronger.
Q: What would be your advice to someone else building their own dream home?
JS: First, this wasn’t actually my dream home, because I couldn’t even imagine there could be houses this big. This is even bigger than my dreams. It’s even bigger than the president’s home. I think it’s important for people building their dream homes to be very hands-on with it.
Q: If you were to start all over again tomorrow, what would you do differently?
JS: It’s strange that when we started building this home so many years ago, my husband and I had just visited Versailles in France, and we were inspired by the French architecture. But my tastes have changed and evolved, and now I’m kind of into a more modern style. I’ve seen so much more than I had when I was a virgin to architecture, so I don’t know, I might have to find a way to combine some modern with the French somehow.
Q: Will Versailles have special facilities for the dogs? We know you love your dogs.
JS: Dogs will have free roam of the house—they’ll be first-class residents and VIPs. They’re 50-50 house-trained, and we do have doggie doors in different parts of the house now, but sometimes the dogs get lazy—they don’t want to walk that far. It’s crazy. We’re like, “Don’t you dare!”
