Mark Zuckerberg's latest estate: Meta owner buys $35 m Irish castle for family getaways

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have added a centuries-old Irish castle to their property portfolio. The couple recently bought Strancally Castle, a three-storey Gothic-style estate in County Waterford, from the family of financier Michael Alen-Buckley, according to the Irish Times. The castle stands on a 440-acre estate and overlooks the River Blackwater. The 16,000-square-foot property is estimated to be worth between $23 million and $35 million, though the sale does not appear in public records. “Mark and his family are excited to continue caring for this historic home and look forward to spending time in Ireland, where Meta maintains its international headquarters,” Brian Baker, a spokesman for Zuckerberg, told the New York Post. Zuckerberg and Chan are expected to remain based in the US and use the castle when they travel to Ireland. Meta has around 1,500 employees in the country. Castle dates back to 1830 Strancally Castle was designed by architects James and George Richard Pain and was built around 1830 for John Keily, a former English Tory politician, in County Waterford. The castle's scale was highlighted in “The Houses of Ireland”, a book by Brian De Breffney and Rosemary Ffolliott. It described the property as lavish and noted that it required “a brisk walk of 4 ½ minutes to reach the dining room from the kitchen.” The Alen-Buckley family spent the past 25 years carrying out extensive renovations on the castle. The property is about 125 miles from Meta's international headquarters in Dublin. The city is home to the EU operations of several American technology companies, which have set up there due to Ireland's historically low corporate tax rates. Meta also has a data centre outside Dublin. Strancally Castle is also close to several other large estates. These include Ballynatray House, which British business magnate James Dyson bought for about $34 million in 2024. Zuckerberg already has a real estate portfolio worth more than $450 million. It includes a mini compound in Palo Alto, where he primarily lives, and a large compound in Hawaii on a secluded island that is rumoured to have an underground bunker.