It has been empty since 2009, the magnificent villa of Dexter Ball (79), a US seed trader and multi-millionaire who was once looking for peace in Schwändi in Glarus. The village is 700 meters above sea level and has 450 inhabitants. For 11 million Swiss francs, he had a neoclassical building erected. And even had the cantonal road relocated for this purpose. He paid the costs of one million Swiss francs out of his own pocket.
In 2009, the American, whose fortune the “balance sheet” had estimated at CHF 100 to 200 million, traveled back to the USA with his wife and seven children. Now, after 13 years, a buyer has finally been found for the property, which doesn’t fit in at all with the idyllic Glarner mountains. This is reported by the “Glarner Nachrichten”. The new owner is said to be a German businessman who made his money in South Africa in the food industry.
Ten bedrooms and five bathrooms
Dexter Ball’s villa, who lives a very secluded life and of whom there is no photo, has been estimated by experts at 2.3 to 7 million francs. The house is 630 square meters and has an area of 9000 square meters. Ten bedrooms, five bathrooms and five other rooms. The villa has a large, professional kitchen.
But that’s not all: the villa has a spacious library with a fireplace and an underground car park for several cars. And even a chapel with an altar and an organ. Particularly exciting: The three-storey building has a network of secret passages that are all connected to each other. There are four hidden staircases on each floor. It is not clear why Ball, who designed his own house, had it built at the time.
A whole canton in great excitement
Dexter Ball and his family are devout and prayed several times a day in their own chapel. Ball is also said to have had dealings with Holocaust deniers, as the Sunday Blick reported. When the wealthy American moved here in 2004, the entire canton of Glarus was in a state of excitement. The seed dealer was granted a flat-rate taxation. The excitement has given way to a certain disillusionment with every year that the villa has stood empty. (pbe)
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