Newsletter: Hot Property: Can you top this?
There seems to be a more expensive sale or listing to report every week. This one takes us to familiar turf — the onetime home of famed TV and film producer Aaron Spelling and his wife, Candy, in the Westside neighborhood of Holmby Hills.
The $200-million price tag puts it atop the crop of luxury estates for sale in the Los Angeles area. Any chance there will be a higher-priced property for sale soon? Nothing surprises us anymore.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
That’s no typo
Petra Stunt, the daughter of Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, has put the former Aaron and Candy Spelling estate up for sale. She bought the Manor, as the property is known, five years ago for $85 million in an all-cash deal.
Priced at a mind-blowing $200 million, the estate has slightly more living space than the White House at 56,500 square feet. The approximately 123 rooms include 14 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms.
Stunt, who is married to English businessman James Stunt, updated the interiors during her ownership. A lounge/entry lined in black-striped marble, the large aquarium in the study and the basement level nightclub are among her modifications.
Stunt listed the Manor in Holmby Hills for sale at $200 million. (Nick Springett | Inset: Vincent Damourett / European Pressphoto Agency)
Comparison shopping?
If Petra Stunt’s Holmby Hills mansion is too rich for your blood, here’s a relative bargain listed at $79 million. That’s for 20,000 square feet of living space including 11 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms.
Gary L. Wilson, an investor and former chairman of Northwest Airlines, has put his home in the Holmby Hills area on the market.
Like many of the trophy homes that surround it, the estate has a history well-trod by Old Hollywood.
Among previous owners of the Georgian Colonial were Universal-International Pictures President William Goetz and his wife, Edie Mayer Goetz, the daughter of filmmaker Louis B. Mayer. Their dinner parties often drew such stars as David Niven, Loretta Young, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland and Cary Grant.
Wilson listed his Gordon Kaufmann-designed home in Holmby Hills for $79 million. (Nick Springett)
Now that’s pretty
One of the best Los Angeles neighborhoods for classic homes is historic Windsor Square. That’s where veteran CBS executive John Wentworth and his partner, restaurateur Jamie Gluck, have put their home up for sale at $4.1 million.
The Mediterranean Revival-style house, built in 1921 and later renovated and restored by architect William Hefner, blends vintage character and contemporary details. Arched doors and windows, a formal entry with the original iron staircase and custom millwork are among the period features.
French doors open to a covered portico that leads to a swimming pool. Formal gardens and privacy hedges complete the picture. This is our idea of gracious living.
Wentworth and Gluck put their home in the Windsor Square area of Los Angeles on the market for $4.1 million. (Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices)
Rooted in the ’20s
Actress and singer-songwriter Mandy Moore has checked out of her Los Feliz home of more than a decade. She recently sold the Mediterranean-style house for $2.95 million.
We’re digging the steps leading up to the antique iron gates at the front. Now that’s a grand entrance.
The approximately 4,700-square-foot house features magnesite stairs, which were fashionable when the place was built in 1927. The earth-toned magnesite, however, visually overpowers the thin-strip light-colored wood floors used in adjoining spaces. And while there are substantial dark-stained beams on the living room ceiling, the kitchen beams look like a later addition.
Hey, everyone’s a critic. We hope the new buyers are very happy there.
Moore sold the Los Feliz home she bought when she was 18 years old for $2.95 million. (Val Riolo | Los Angeles Times)
End of an era
Black Sabbath recently concluded its final tour, aptly named The End, with a show at the Hollywood Bowl.
Now, the heavy metal band’s bassist Geezer Butler and his wife, Gloria, have sold their home of more than a decade in the Beverly Hills Post Office area for $2.604 million. The couple, who reside primarily in their native England, bought the house more than a decade ago for $2.4 million.
Built in 1957 and since updated, the Mediterranean-style home has a contemporary feel. The two-story home opens to a vaulted foyer with a staircase wrapped in decorative wrought iron. Skylights and walls of windows brighten some 3,710 square feet of white-walled and muted interiors.
It’s a cool, if somewhat conservative, crib for a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
Butler sold his Beverly Hills home of more than a decade for $2.604 million. (Violetta Hargitay | Getty Images)
Lodge done his way
A scenic retreat built for legendary singer and actor Frank Sinatra in the mountains above Palm Desert is for sale at $3.9 million.
Named Villa Maggio by Sinatra in recognition of his Oscar-winning role in “From Here to Eternity,” the estate was custom-designed with privacy and entertaining in mind.
A Mid-Century main lodge, a two-story guest house, a tennis court, a swimming pool, a pool house and a helipad are on the 7.5-acre property. And when was the last time you saw an outdoor dance floor?
A desert retreat built for Sinatra is listed for sale with surrounding land parcels at $3.9 million. (Brendan Carlisle / Interior Pixels | Getty Images)
From the archives
Ten years ago, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and former “Baywatch” star Donna D’Errico put an Agoura Hills house on the market at close to $3 million. D’Errico had renovated the 6,000-plus-square-foot house, which sat on 40 acres. Among the updated features were a redwood sauna, a copper kitchen sink and a built-in cappuccino machine.
Twenty years ago, the Brentwood estate of the late comic John Candy came on the market at $5.9 million. Candy, who starred in such films as “Uncle Buck” and “Planes, Trains & Automobiles,” had died two years earlier at 43. The 2.5-acre property included a 6,000-square-foot main house, a 1,800-square-foot guest house, a 2,500-square-foot gym with a steam room, a tennis court, a swimming pool and a cabana with a kitchen and dressing rooms.
What we’re reading
— And you think you have problems? About 20 wild boars have destroyed half a dozen lawns in the Evergreen neighborhood of South San Jose over a period of about a week, reports NBCBayArea.com. The pigs strike at night and rip up the grass in search of grubs.
— In other news from up north, a Victorian-style home featured in the 1993 comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire” starring Robin Williams is for sale in San Francisco for $4.45 million, says SFGate. Designed by 1893 by local architect Joachim B. Mathison, the residence retains the grandeur of a bygone era with a two-turret design, original woodwork and sets of picture windows.
— John B. Kilroy Sr., who established Kilroy Realty Corp. as one of the leading commercial real estate firms on the West Coast, died at age 94. The renowned sailor was among the developers who tapped into the growth of Southern California’s aerospace and defense industries after World War II, according to the L.A. Times obituary.
— Leave it to the website Estately to keep us entertained. Among home listings of note they showcased recently was a stately brick church-turned-residence listed in Missouri at $285,000. How many homes come with an organ and a spire? The former Grace Church in Clarksville was built in 1940. We love a good reuse project.
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