{"id":7641,"date":"2026-08-24T16:38:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7641"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:38:24","slug":"mark-zuckerberg-buys-an-irish-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7641","title":{"rendered":"Mark Zuckerberg buys an Irish castle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Alan Yuhas, New York Times<\/strong><\/p>\n

For two centuries, Strancally Castle\u2019s towers and parapets have overlooked a bend in the Blackwater River and a swath of Irish land as it passed from one wealthy family to the next.<\/p>\n

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It now joins the holdings of Mark Zuckerberg, one of the 21st century\u2019s most prominent landowners, along with a place on an artificial island in Miami Beach, a large house in Washington, and compounds in California and Hawaii.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Zuckerberg, the 42-year-old billionaire CEO of Meta, confirmed this week that he had bought the castle, a Gothic-style estate in Waterford County, a region of southeastern Ireland with about 130,000 people. The castle was built around 1830 and renovated in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

The purchase does not appear to be listed in Ireland\u2019s \u200bproperty price register. The Irish Times, which reported the news Thursday, estimated that the estate could be worth $23 million to $35 million.<\/p>\n

Around the middle of the 19th century, the estate was valued at 61 pounds, according to an entry about the castle in a University of Galway archive of landed estates that also mentions it contained an art collection and a library.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark and his family look forward to caring for this historic home and visiting when traveling to Ireland,\u201d said Brian Baker, the spokesperson for Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n

The castle was built for a former member of Parliament, John Keily, according to Ireland\u2019s National Built Heritage Service, which describes the building as both \u201cmuscular\u201d and \u201cdour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The estate has never left private hands, leaving the public to glimpse its interior only in historical archives. An entry about Keily on \u201cThe History of Parliament\u201d website says the house was designed \u201con a lavish scale; it took a brisk walk of 4 1\/2 minutes to reach the dining room from the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The castle was most recently owned by Michael Alen-Buckley, the chair of the investment firm RAB Capital, and his wife, Giancarla Alen-Buckley, a member of the family behind the luxury Rocco Forte Hotels group.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe leave our home of twenty-five years fondly and are grateful for the opportunity we have been given to save and restore Strancally Castle,\u201d the couple said in a statement. \u201cWe are delighted that Mark and his family intend to build on our stewardship by continuing to invest in maintaining and enhancing the property and grounds as their home.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not clear how much time Zuckerberg or his family (he has three daughters with his wife, Priscilla Chan) will spend in Ireland, but his company has a significant presence there.<\/p>\n

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Like many major U.S. companies, Meta uses an office in Dublin as its European headquarters, and about 1,500 employees work there. Ireland has become a hub for multinational corporations, both for its relatively low corporate income tax rate, 15% for big companies, and its history of allowing corporations to shift profits out of the country into places like Bermuda, Grand Cayman and the Isle of Man.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s status as a base for several technological giants has made it a key player in enforcing European Union regulations and, increasingly, a center of protest against the companies and their data centers.<\/p>\n

Asked for comment about Zuckerberg\u2019s purchase, the Waterford City and County Council extolled the area\u2019s attractions \u2014 wild coastlines and mountains, picturesque festivals and towns \u2014 and the history of the county and city.<\/p>\n

\u201cFounded by the Vikings in 914 AD, Waterford is Ireland\u2019s Oldest City that has been shaped by centuries of history and today it is evident that the county\u2019s remarkable architecture keeps its past vividly present,\u201d the council said in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that Mr. Zuckerberg and his family fully enjoy all that Waterford has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Irish Times estimated that the estate could be worth $23 million to $35 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nMark Zuckerberg buys an Irish castle - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7641\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mark Zuckerberg buys an Irish castle - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Irish Times estimated that the estate could be worth $23 million to $35 million.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7641\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-24T16:38:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7641#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7641\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Mark Zuckerberg buys an Irish castle\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-24T16:38:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7641\"},\"wordCount\":671,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7641#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/ca800ffc8670dc6ab11471beaa4131f7.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7641#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7641\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7641\",\"name\":\"Mark Zuckerberg buys an Irish castle - 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