Editor’s note: This story has been updated
Less than a mile from the Potomac River, tucked away on five wooded acres in Great Falls, Virginia, stands a home that looks as though it belongs in a European fairy tale.
Known as Aashirwaad — Hindi for “blessing” — the 35,000-square-foot estate of Indian American entrepreneur Anil Sharma and his wife, Anu, is a world of grand staircases, glittering chandeliers, sprawling outdoor spaces, and a hand-carved temple brought from India. Yet behind the grandeur lies a deeply personal story of ambition, family, faith, and gratitude.
The second episode of The American Bazaar’s documentary series The Grand Mansions takes viewers inside the award-winning property, revealing its spectacular architecture and luxury amenities. It turns the spotlight on the team behind the build: John, Mandy, and Mike Mafi of The Building Group Inc., the firm responsible for the home’s design and construction.
The home, a 30-minute drive from Washington, DC, is also known as Château De Rêve, French for “Castle of Dreams.”
The documentary is available on YouTube.
Watch the documentary
A dream years in the making
“The most important thing when building a house like this is a vision,” says John Mafi, assistant vice president of The Building Group Inc. “They knew what they wanted. They wanted this grandeur and luxury that cannot be seen in other homes.”
That vision translated into a home of more than 33,000 square feet, with over 10,000 square feet of backyard patio, on a nearly five-acre lot. “The beautiful thing about Great Falls is you have a proximity to DC, about 30 to 40 minutes, as well as privacy,” John says. “It is an extremely tree-filled and wooded area. So you can still be close to DC, as well as keep your privacy.”
“This magnificent home has a lot of detail in every corner,” he adds. “There’s stories in every corner.”
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The relationship between the Sharmas and the Mafi family goes back several years. “We met Anil and Anu about four years ago,” recalls Mike Mafi, president of The Building Group Inc. “They came in to look at one of our houses. They asked if we could just build them a house larger.”
The search for the right property took time. “They looked for the land, and Anu found this particular land,” Mike says. “There was a house on it. They purchased the land, then demolished the house. We got together, we prepared the plan with our architect.”
The scale of the project grew considerably from the original concept. “Initially we were thinking about [20,000, 25,000] 30,000 square feet,” Mike says. “By the time these guys were done, we were at 33,000 square feet.”
Construction took roughly two years from the moment ground was broken. “When we started digging the ground, it took about two years to actually complete it,” Mike says. “The process itself was very rewarding… Anu and Anil both gave me a lot of freedom to create. That’s why this house became such a magnificent artistic house.”
Building grandeur
The finished home includes six bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, divided between two separate structures: the main house and a pool house. The pool house area is anchored by a 200-inch outdoor television and surrounded by more than 50 planters spread throughout the front and back yards, Mike says. The main house alone stretches roughly 210 feet from end to end.
Three garages flank either side of the structure — a deliberate design choice. “Symmetry is very important to show the grandeur,” says Mandy Mafi, vice president of The Building Group Inc . “We wanted to make sure that this house is symmetrical as you enter at the right center of the house. Both sides have the same weight to it and the same balance to it.”
Indian spiritual motifs are woven into the architecture as well, most visibly on the home’s facade. “Ganesh was very important to Anu and Anil,” Mandy says. “Anil from the beginning wanted me to implement it somewhere into the facade of the front of the house.”
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Gold leaf and bowling alley
Gilding was one of the estate’s most labor-intensive features. “Gold leafing was a big, big element of this house,” Mandy says. “We had our gold leafers work eight to 12 months to gold leaf the entire house. The gold leaf gives a great texture to the plaster, and it also doesn’t change that much of the sheen when it’s exposed to natural light.”
The chandeliers throughout the home were custom-designed to blend two design traditions. “Chandeliers, the way I designed them, it’s a combination of French classic and Italian Murano glass designs,” Mandy says. “In each room, I kind of change the size and change the shape of it a bit and try to fit it into that room for that purpose.”
Custom mosaic work and millwork — including plaster and wood detailing — appear throughout the house, along with one more unexpected feature: a bowling alley in the basement.
“When somebody comes to this house and leaves, one thing they will remember is the bowling alley,” Mike says.
It’s a standout even for a builder with decades of high-end projects behind him. “I’ve done many houses with different elements,” he says, “but this is something pretty, pretty different that I’ve done.”
Elsewhere, the amenity list continues. “The home also includes other amenities such as indoor spa, sauna, steam room, media room — just about anything you can name it,” John says.
The Puja room
Of all the spaces in the house, none received more attention than the Puja room. “As you’re going towards the Puja Room, you see an end wall, which was a very important wall,” Mandy says. “I wanted to put something very artistic in there to grab attention.”
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That wall became a canvas for one of Anu’s favorite motifs. “Peacock for Anu was very important. She loved peacock. That’s why I used peacock throughout the house,” Mandy says.
The room’s craftsmanship draws from around the world. “As far as our kitchen is concerned, all that craftsmanship you see is done here in the United States, too,” Mandy says. “But the flooring and the iron work and some other elements were done overseas. We have mosaics from Italy, flooring from China.”
According to Mandy, no space in the house demanded more time or care. “The amount of time we spent designing and going over this Puja Room was more than the whole house,” she says. “We spent a tremendous amount of time on the Puja Room because it was that important to them.”
Natural light and a connection to the landscape were central to the home’s design philosophy. “The way we design our homes is to bring the outdoor to indoor,” Mandy says. “While you’re inside, you still feel the outside. You have the natural sunlight coming in. It has a wonderful energy about it.”
Lighting design extends well beyond the interior. “The house is fully encompassed in different sources of lighting,” Mandy says. “We have exterior lights, soffit lights surrounding the whole roof of the house, which is embedded in the cornice. We also have landscaping and spotlights, so at night the place really glows up.”
The primary suite follows a similarly immersive concept. “Bedrooms are created in such a manner that when you walk in — like, for instance, the master bedroom — the way I designed it, you will feel like you are walking on a cloud,” Mandy says. “It’s all silverish. I put silver leaf chinoiserie on the walls, hand-painted with birds and leaves.”
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An outdoor oasis
The backyard is among the largest the Mafis have built. “This is one of the largest backyards we have made,” Mandy says. “We actually had a party of 600 people here, and it was comfortably done. There were no difficulties with that.”
The landscaping spans a wide range of plantings, from boxwoods to hydrangeas to hornbeams, set around features that include the 200-inch outdoor television and fully irrigated lawns. Even the hardscaping was chosen with the region’s weather in mind. “We use a very dense-quality marble so it can weather the cold and the heat and the rain and the snow,” Mandy says.
The pool itself was designed to mirror the house. “I often design the pool based on the shape and size of the house,” Mandy says. “The curves of the pool follow the curves of the back portion of the structure.”
Water and fire were both essential to the outdoor design. “You have all the elements of fire, waterfall,” Mandy says. “You’ll like the sound of waterfall, so we used a lot of waterfall everywhere so you can hear the sound of the water.” The pool holds more than 40,000 gallons of water and includes five separate fire features — four fire bowls with attached water elements and one sunken fire pit — along with a temperature-controlled jacuzzi.
The finishing touches complete the effect. “The finishing edges offer that 24-7 water sound, as well as a sheer descent with lights attached on the back, which is encompassed by a gazebo — hand-forged iron dome as well as gold leafed on top,” John says. “And the pool has over 50 different light features as well.”
“This, by far, is our best project that we have completed as of this moment,” John says.