Wealthy Florida couple building ‘American Versailles’

New York -  A Florida couple are awaiting the completion of an American equivalent to the Palace of Versailles.

David Siegel’s 90,000 square-foot Versailles, being built in the Orlando gated community The Reserve at Lake Butler Sound, will be the largest home in the U.S. when completed. Other

houses in the area average 10,000 square feet.

“Next door is a 12,000-square-foot house. That could be my maid’s quarters one day,” the New York Daily News quoted David Siegel as telling BusinessWeek.

“No, I shouldn’t say that, it sounds like an insult,” he said.

The massive mansion is the subject of “The Queen of Versailles,” a documentary that follows the couple as they set out to build their Versailles-inspired home.

The documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, unexpectedly captured the construction as the recession hit, which forced the couple to cope with a diminishing

budget.

The new Versailles is reportedly 60 percent complete. Construction was stopped in 2009 due to falling profits at the time-share giant Westgate of which Siegel is CEO.

The Siegels are living in a 7 million-dollar, 26,000-square-foot mansion in the meantime.

The 76-year-old CEO and his wife Jackie, 46, have seven children and a niece whom they adopted.

The children will have their own wing of Versailles, complete with a movie theater and computer center.

The home will also boast of a bowling alley, a skating rink, a gym and a wine cellar with room for 20,000 bottles – even though Siegel claims he doesn’t even like wine.

“Our house is like a convention center compared to the other houses here,” said Siegel, who designed it.

Siegel said that he and his family will either movie into it or sell it, once the construction is complete.

“Whatever happens first. We really don’t need the house. But I want to finish it,” he added.