Lodge-Style Wyoming Retreat Built for Legendary Trial Lawyer Gerry Spence Is Going Under the Gavel

The nearly 10,000-square-foot estate boasts Grand Teton views.

        Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions
      




    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    


  



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A private 23-acre mountain retreat in the heart of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, once listed for $17.5 million is heading to auction next month.

The lodge-style estate, constructed of exposed log, timber and stone inside and out, and its attached guest apartment span seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and nearly 10,000 square feet of living space—much of which overlooks the Teton Range through expansive windows. Online bidding on the property starts on Nov. 15 and the sale will conclude with a live auction on Nov. 26 at Sotheby’s London, according to Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions, which is handling the sale.

The lodge was completed in 1992 by famed trial attorney and author Gerry Spence and his wife, Imaging.

“This was a passion project for the couple and the craftsmanship is unparalleled,” said the home’s listing agent, Meredith Landino of Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty.

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Spence, a Wyoming native known for his fringed leather jacket, is best known for representing the estate of Karen Silkwood in a 1979 wrongful death case against the plutonium facility where she worked (as depicted in the movie “Silkwood” starring Meryl Streep) and for successfully defending former first lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos as well as Ray Weaver after a notorious standoff with FBI agents at Ruby Ridge in 1993.

The owners bought the property in June 2021 and are moving back to Europe to be closer to family, Landino said. They couldn’t be reached directly for comment.

The estate sits on two separately deeded lots, meaning a buyer has increased opportunity to develop the property, Landino said. She listed the property in December 2023 for $17.5 million, delisted it in July for the summer and put it back up for sale for $11.75 million in September. Bidding next month is expected to start between $5 million and $7 million.

Details provided in construction records include chinked half logs and glacier boulders from Dubois, Wyoming, for the facing; 16 steep gables clad in a copper roof; custom-fitted log work; 200-year-old hemlock wood flooring in the central section of the house; and Utah red sandstone entry stone floors and terraces. The stone is mostly ancient granite sourced from the Wind River Range with green lichens intact.

A great room, flanked by two soaring glacier-boulder fireplaces, features three-story windows and a 27-foot-high vaulted ceiling showcasing log trusses and an 8-foot-wide chandelier by local antler fabricator John Bickner, who made a special trip to Alaska to purchase the giant moose antlers, according to the listing agent.

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An adjacent stonewalled kitchen, updated with stainless steel appliances and marble countertops, leads to a bay-windowed breakfast nook with south-facing windows, so it gets lots of light in the winter, Landino said.

A theater room directly off the great room is known as “the cave” for its arched walls and ceiling encased in stone from a nearby quarry.

Upstairs, the primary suite level consists of a bedroom with a private deck and a fireplace, two bathrooms and walk-in closets, an office with another fireplace and an open mezzanine overlooking the great room.

The home also has a library on the third level, seven fireplaces throughout the home, a sauna and a spiral staircase that climbs to a turret peak.

Attached to the west side of the house is the three-bedroom guest apartment (including one loft), which has two full baths, a large family room and a kitchen plus two one-car garage bays.

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A pond-side historic cabin from pioneer days was moved here from a ranch in eastern Wyoming when the house was built and is used for storage.

        Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions

A separate caretaker’s log cabin is tucked into an aspen grove opposite the driveway.

Outside the garden level, a large stone patio looks out over a rolling lawn and a natural swimming pond with a sandy beach, a diving dock and boulders. A pond-side historic cabin from pioneer days was moved here from a ranch in eastern Wyoming when the house was built and is used for storage, Landino said.

This article first appeared on Mansion Global