For nearly several years, the most striking thing about this 3,700-acre stretch of Colorado wasn’t its price tag. Now, the same landscape has a very different owner: Palantir CEO Alex Karp, who paid $120 million for the former St. It was the silence. Trappist monks lived there, prayed there and worked the land, tucked away in the Capitol Creek Valley near Aspen. Benedict’s Monastery, turning the secluded property into one of Colorado’s most expensive residential deals.
Benedict’s Monastery sits in Old Snowmass, roughly 30 minutes from Aspen. The property covers about 3,700 acres, with elevations ranging from roughly 7,400 to 9,300 feet and views stretching across the Elk Range. Image: https://www.mirrranchgroup.com/ The property was listed for $150 million in 2024, meaning the eventual sale price was about $30 million below the original asking price. Yet at $120 million, it still became the most expensive residential property sale at the time, according to the listing agents and multiple media reports.
Because of the money involved, but because of what exactly Karp bought: a former monastery spread across thousands of acres, with a 24,000-square-foot main building, a retreat centre, homes, cabins, working ranchland and vast stretches of mountain landscape, the sale is remarkable not simply. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Karp was the buyer, citing a source familiar with the deal. St. It also contains three creeks, irrigated meadows and wildlife habitat.
The main monastery building, constructed in the late 1950s, measures approximately 24,000 square feet. A 6,000-square-foot retreat centre was added in the 1990s, while the wider property includes older houses and cabins. Built in the late 1950s by Trappist monks, the roughly 24,000-square-foot main monastery was inspired by a medieval Cistercian abbey in France, bringing a distinctly European monastic character to Colorado’s Capitol Creek Valley. The chapel and cloisters opened in 1958 and were designed to last for hundreds of years, according to Aspen Journalism. A roughly 6,000-square-foot retreat centre, added in the 1990s, was designed using reclaimed timber and local stone, with passive-solar principles and extensive daylighting. Now, after its $120 million sale to Palantir CEO Alex Karp, that unusual piece of architectural history has entered an entirely different chapter.
The most extraordinary feature of St. Benedict’s Monastery may be that its architecture was never designed to impress in the conventional sense. The complex includes a chapel, cloisters, prayer spaces and living quarters, arranged within a landscape where architecture and nature were deliberately allowed to coexist. Then came a newer architectural layer. Its forms were inspired by traditional ranch buildings, allowing the newer structures to sit naturally within the surrounding landscape rather than dominate it. Its architecture was created around a philosophy of silence, community and permanence. Looking for trusted parenting advice? Follow TOI Parenting Circle on Instagram for expert guidance, relatable stories, and practical tips delivered every day.
