Article Written: 2012
Chateau Lyon on Lake Norman in Mooresville, NC owner, Scott Smith logs 15-hour days at his Morris Costumes corporate campus in Charlotte, so naturally he’d want a home with a lake view to help him relax.
Scott Smith, just never expected to buy a castle with a view of Lake Norman Waterfront Real Estate from every window – for a sixth of its original asking price.
He ended up paying $4.4 million for Chateau Lyon, a mansion that cost $22 million to build and came fully furnished with 19th-century French antiques, not to mention 500 feet of shoreline.
The May 18, 2012 sale of the foreclosed southern Iredell County, NC Real Estate was the highest-priced homes sale in the Charlotte, NC area since 2009.
Chateau Lyon on Lake Norman is off Interstate 77 Exit 31, in the gated Alexander Island Homes Subdivision; a Lake Norman Luxury Homes for Sale community at the end of Langtree Road in Mooresville, NC Real Estate.
The home was built over six years by entrepreneurs Jane and Larry Hendricks, who completed their 8,700-square-foot dream castle in 2009. They lived in it only briefly, as their situation changed when their Boyles Furniture company filed for bankruptcy.
When Chateau Lyon in Mooresville, NC returned to the market in September 2011, it attracted interest internationally.
At the original auction, the price was $25 million, Scott Smith said. By January, the asking price had dropped to $5.9 million.
Jennings calls the estate “an architectural masterpiece” inspired by the French limestone, soaring ceilings and antique ceramic roof tiles the Hendrickses admired on their European travels.
The two-story home’s stone flooring was reclaimed from 600-year-old farmhouses bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Its grand foyer features a limestone fountain hand-carved in France. The half-bath to the right of the foyer has a sink that was converted from a black marble fountain in Paris.
The home has five bedrooms, six full baths and three half-baths “and is very livable,” Scott Smith said.
The home’s colors are watery greens and shades of blue. Its bronze bay windows replicate those adorning Hotel Le Meurice in Paris. The dining room’s paneling includes original paintings, sections of gold-leaf paneling, and antique fixtures taken directly from an early-1900s reproduction of Marie Antoinette’s summer home.
Chateau Lyon has a library, conservatory and theater. The library has a hidden door in a bookcase that conceals a half-bath. The master bedroom has a French antique marble fireplace and antique light fixtures, some covered in 22-karat gold.
Chateau Lyon Home has exterior walls are 20 inches thick and covered with French limestone. The roof is covered with 250-year-old tiles covered in zinc-coated copper. Copper is featured in one of the upstairs bathrooms, which has a solid copper tub valued at $65,000. The copper stove on the main floor cost $110,000.
The sunsets there are stunning! The veranda looks westward across the water to The Point Homes in Mooresville, NC Lake and Golf Club, which real estate mogul Donald Trump bought for $3 million and is renaming Trump National Golf Club, Charlotte.
“It’s just gorgeous, and I figured I could work out the price with the bank,” Scott Smith said of the home.
So how does a costume shop owner afford a $4.4 million house?
Morris Costumes started 55+ years ago in the basement of Scott Smith’s family’s home at 5110 Kistler Ave., behind the Amity Gardens shopping center in east Charlotte. For 30 years, it remained a small retailer and distributor, moving to several locations on Monroe Road over the years.
“With the explosion of e-commerce and temporary Halloween stores, we quickly grew 10 times the size and volume,” Smith said. The company moved from a 20,000-square-foot facility to a 300,000-square-foot facility, ships 15,000 packages a day and employs more than 350 people, he said.
The company ships to almost every country in the world, from Australia to Russia to South Africa, and maintains $50 million worth of costumes at all times, he said. It sells everything from rubber noses to animated spaceships. “What a fun business,” Smith said.
Lake Norman always has been dear to Smith, who’s owned a 2,200-square-foot home off Schooner Drive and Torrence Chapel Road in Cornelius since 1984.
As for Chateau Lyon, “I can see us retiring here and our kids retiring in a home like this,” Scott Smith said. “It’s not something you can replace.”
Mooresville, North Carolina Waterfront Homes
Mooresville
112 Sisters Cove Court, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Sisters Cove
3 BR, 2.1 BA, 3515 sqft
Alina Lorenzo | MLS # 4205379 | Active
139 Hollen Lane, Mooresville, NC 28117
10 BR, 11.7 BA, 9870 sqft
Hart Real Estate | MLS # 4096193 | Active
124 Wellcraft Court, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Williams Subdivision
6 BR, 6.2 BA, 8216 sqft
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4227104 | Active
2536 Brawley School Road, Mooresville, NC 28117
4 BR, 5.2 BA, 6859 sqft
Corcoran HM Properties | MLS # 4225455 | Active
148 Lightship Drive, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: The Point
4 BR, 4.2 BA, 8360 sqft
Yates Realty Inc | MLS # 4210286 | Active
155 Union Chapel Drive, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: The Point
4 BR, 5.2 BA, 10079 sqft
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4217767 | Active
102 Eastham Court, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: The Point
5 BR, 5.3 BA, 7788 sqft
Corcoran HM Properties | MLS # 4196147 | Active
132 Rollingwood Lane, Mooresville, NC 28117
4 BR, 5.2 BA, 6601 sqft
Coldwell Banker Realty | MLS # 4212873 | Active
108 Sail High Court, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Westview
5 BR, 5.2 BA, 6735 sqft
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4147056 | Active
122 N Longfellow Lane, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: The Point
5 BR, 5.2 BA, 7382 sqft
Vessel Realty | MLS # 4222583 | Active
111 Kent Court, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: The Point
5 BR, 4.2 BA, 5974 sqft
Trump International | MLS # 4223175 | Active
134 Larkhaven Lane, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Larkhaven
4 BR, 4.1 BA, 5616 sqft
LKNHomes.com Inc | MLS # 4229054 | Active
123 Sailview Road, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Alexander Island
6 BR, 4.1 BA, 5925 sqft
The Agency - Charlotte | MLS # 4149633 | Active
109 Twiggs Lane, Mooresville, NC 28117
4 BR, 4 BA, 4243 sqft
RE/MAX Executive | MLS # 4196926 | Active
167 Points End Drive, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Crescent Land & Timber
4 BR, 3.1 BA, 2697 sqft
Coldwell Banker Realty | MLS # 4230820 | Active
130 Brick Kiln Way, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: The Point
4 BR, 5.1 BA, 5744 sqft
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4232035 | Active
106 Beachview Drive, Mooresville, NC 28117
4 BR, 4.1 BA, 4330 sqft
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4228983 | Active
135 Holt Lane, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Mccrary Woods
4 BR, 5.1 BA, 4340 sqft
Legacy Carolina | MLS # 4145257 | Active
154 Fox Hunt Drive, Mooresville, NC 28117
Subdivision: Beacon Pointe
4 BR, 6 BA, 6093 sqft
EXP Realty LLC | MLS # 4225779 | Active
Based on information submitted to the MLS GRID as of March 26, 2025, 12pm. All data is obtained from various sources and may not have been verified by broker or MLS GRID. Supplied Open House Information is subject to change without notice. All information should be independently reviewed and verified for accuracy. Properties may or may not be listed by the office/agent presenting the information. Some IDX listings have been excluded from this website.
Homes for sale in the same location as Chateau Lyon
Alexander Island
Based on information submitted to the MLS GRID as of March 26, 2025, 12pm. All data is obtained from various sources and may not have been verified by broker or MLS GRID. Supplied Open House Information is subject to change without notice. All information should be independently reviewed and verified for accuracy. Properties may or may not be listed by the office/agent presenting the information. Some IDX listings have been excluded from this website.
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