This is not a drill: You can now live in Hogwarts
If you’ve ever dreamed of living your best life in Hogwarts castle, you’re not alone. It’s something a lot of us have dreamt about at one point or another. Living in the castle, exploring the grounds, running to class while navigating the changing staircases, forgetting the new Common Room password and arguing with an enchanted painting.
And now, all of that can be REAL.
Okay, so maybe not all of it. But you can live in Hogwarts — or at least the real-life location that was used as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies. That place is called Royal Connaught Park and it’s now being transfigured — erm, okay, remodeled — into luxury town homes, meaning that some Potterheads will actually be able to come as close to living in Hogwarts as mere Muggles can.
The project is nearly complete and the 100-acre expanse of land will feature 380 units. Only 28 of those are complete right now, but since they are, we have an idea of the price tag for living in the most magical place on earth (sorry, Disney World). Be warned though: That price tag is pretty steep. The available units cost anywhere from £649,000 to £2.8 million (that’s about $987,000 to $4.2 million U.S. dollars or approximately 205,207 to 873,225 Galleons).
Some of the exteriors will look really familiar to fans of the Harry Potter franchise, but my personal favorite feature is the Great Hall. Yep, the actual 1,400-square-foot dining hall at Royal Connaught Park was used as the Great Hall in the movies. And yes, the people developing the residential complex had the good sense to leave it magically untouched. Hopefully, considering the price of the units, they’ve found a way to float some candles in there, at least on special occasions.
In addition to being full of Wizarding history thanks to its stint as Hogwarts, Royal Connaught Park has some pretty cool Muggle history too. Built in 1903, it was a real school (The Royal Masonic School for Boys) until 1977 and then later a university (the United States International University-Europe) through 2007. Now, it’s going residential, but its rich history in academics just doubles down on making it the perfect home for book-lovers.
(Image via Warner Bros.)