Daughter of Yankee Candle founder shares what it was like to grow up in a $23 million compound with an indoor water park after its listing goes viral

• Kylie Kittredge told TikTokers what it was like to grow up in a $23 million compound as a kid.
• The home, owned by Kylie's father, the founder of Yankee Candle, went on the market earlier this year.

19-year-old Kylie Kittredge grew up on a (newly-listed) $23 million estate in Leverett, Massachusetts, complete with an arcade and indoor water park. For Christmas, famous bands would play for a crowd of 300+ guests on a stage built into their indoor tennis court.

When she saw her childhood home going viral in a September 7 TikTok from the account @zillowtastrophes, she decided to respond — sharing details of what it was actually like to grow up on the compound and memories of her father, Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge, who passed away unexpectedly in July 2019.

"There are a lot of happy memories attached to this place," she told viewers.

The marketing student told Insider she initially kept her home "pretty private" as a kid. "I wanted it to be a space that my closest friends could come to and hang out, but I didn't wanna publicly advertise it," she said. The difference for her now, speaking about 113 Juggler Meadows publicly, is that she no longer calls it home.

With about 120,000-square-feet of living space and eight buildings, the estate, known as 113 Juggler Meadow, is unbelievably sprawling. Kylie said her main mode of transportation at the compound, large enough to require its own paging system, was a golf cart. Reminiscing, she told viewers she and her sister, Casey, liked to make homemade lemonade and deliver it to employees in a "mobile lemonade stand" via golf cart.

"My grandma Dee lived here!" one commenter wrote. "I don't know if you remember her, but she was the cook. I used to visit her and wonder where the heck I was, lol." Kylie replied: "We love Dee!"

"Our employees had a family feel, and it was special. Those were the people that also raised me," Kylie told Insider. "There were a lot of people involved in my childhood, and I wouldn't change it."

At Christmas time, a "major holiday" at the home, said Kylie, the family would find an enormous "three-story-tall" Christmas tree that she said would "make the whole house smell so good." The tree was decorated with ornaments chosen for a different theme each year, she said. "Everything had to go with everything."

"We had a massive holiday party every year with about 350 of our friends that usually entailed dinner, dancing, and some form of musical entertainment — Hall & Oates is an example of one of the entertainers one year," she told viewers, confirming a detail included in the @zillowtastrophe video. Kylie recalled a particular party in which her dad "really wanted fake snow," so she and her cousins "got to run around, tossing it everywhere."

The home, which includes a bowling alley, 10-seat movie theater, arcade, golf course, and an indoor water park, captivated viewers.

"We had some really fun birthday parties in here," Kylie said of the water park area. "For my fourth birthday, everyone had to come as their favorite 'Little Mermaid' character," she said, showing viewers photos of her father dressed as King Tritan, Kylie as Ariel, and her mom and sister as mermaids.

TikTokers expressed surprise the family didn't have "many candles burning" at all times. "It's a living space," she explained to Insider. "We don't want to have a million different scents hitting you as soon as you walk in. It was more minimal — one candle here and there."

The compound, located about two hours outside of Boston, also includes two temperature-controlled "car barns." Kittredge "was a huge car collector" and would often let Kylie choose which car she wanted him to take her to school in.

"I wish I appreciated it more," she said, "because I miss him and him driving me to school."

Yankee Candle Company has a memorable origin story. At 16 years old, Kittredge couldn't afford to buy his mother a Christmas present. To make one, he melted crayons on the stove to create a candle. When a neighbor asked to purchase it instead, the elder Kittredge bought "enough wax to make two candles — one for his mother, and one to sell," according to the outlet — and started what would one day become Yankee Candle.

Michael J."Mick" Kittredge III, Kylie's brother and senior by 13 years, told the local paper Greenfield Recorder that he hoped his father would be remembered as the "epitome of the American Dream and rags to riches."

He went on to say his father "had a tough childhood" and "wanted to give everybody else everything he didn't have as a kid growing up."

Kylie agreed. The Disney Land-like home was created by a father she described to Insider as involved, insatiably creative, and — exacerbated by a history of health issues — aware of the precious nature of time.

The father Kylie knew was a relentless, indefatigable dreamer. She described a "chapter of our life" in which the family had a "full running farm" because her father wanted fresh eggs in the morning.

Kittredge was also a "major donor" to hospitals, schools, cancer research, and educational programs — particularly at the community college he reportedly credited for making his success possible.

"He wanted to live life to the fullest, and that's what he did," Kylie told Insider.

Mick Kittredge put the family estate up for sale in early September.

Take a look inside the $23 million compound with a Bellagio-themed indoor water park here.

Email tips on all things internet to mleighton@insider.com.