Hunk Bulks Up in Marina del Rey

Actor-model Antonio Sabato Jr., who appears with Paul Sorvino and Hunter Tylo in the upcoming romantic comedy “Jack of All Trades,” has purchased a home in Marina del Rey for slightly more than $1 million.

The Italian-born actor, 27, recently guest-starred on “Ally McBeal” and on the ABC series “Wasteland,” shelved in October. He co-starred in the feature film “The Big Hit” (1998) and also has appeared in a number of TV movies, including “Fatal Error” (1999) and “The Perfect Getaway” (1998).

He had a recurring role as the ex-husband of Heather Locklear’s character on “Melrose Place” (1995), and he played a cocky but gifted pilot in the sci-fi series “Earth 2” (1994-95). Earlier, he was a regular on “General Hospital.” “Jack of All Trades” is due out in March.

A widely recognized Calvin Klein underwear model, the ruggedly handsome actor also wrote the book “No Excuses: Workout for Life” (Universe Publishing, $29.95), released in October.

He bought a three-bedroom 3,500-square-foot house with a media room, and he is adding a pool. He was formerly living in a Marina del Rey condominium, which he sold. His house was newly built by the Lee Group, Builders.

Debra Berman and Pat Kandel of Coldwell Banker Previews, Marina del Rey, had the listing.

Two architecturally significant Westside houses have been torn down. One was designed by the late Paul Williams, the other by the late Wallace Neff.

Williams, the first black member and fellow of the American Institute of Architects, designed homes and other buildings for many white owners at a time when racial discrimination was widespread.

One of the last homes that Williams designed was the longtime Bel-Air residence of the late Henry Salvatori, a confidant of and contributor to Ronald Reagan.

The 12,000-square-foot Georgian colonial, on four acres, was built in 1967. The 33-room mansion was sold for the first time for close to $18 million in March 1998.

The bowed, slender-columned garden entrance on the Salvatori home was Williams’ signature on his Colonial-style houses.

The owner of the former Salvatori property is Gary Winnick, 51, named last year as the richest person in Los Angeles. A former partner of Michael Milken, Winnick founded the telecommunications company known as Global Crossing.

Winnick started to expand the Salvatori house, “keeping the integrity of its classic Paul Williams style,” a Westside source said. Then he apparently gave up and decided to start from scratch. The house was razed.

The Neff house that was bulldozed was built in 1923 for cowboy actor Fred Thomson and his wife, screenwriter Frances Marion. It was Neff’s first major Beverly Hills-area commission, and it was his first project for a movie star.

When completed, the 25-room house, on 120 acres, was deemed “an important example of the California Spanish style” in the local and national architectural press.

New Yorker Paul Kollsman, inventor of the altimeter, bought the estate in 1945. In 1997, his widow sold the home, still on 120 acres, to billionaire Paul Allen, 47, co-founder of Microsoft Corp.

Like Winnick, Allen was said to have purchased the home to refurbish. But Allen devoted more of his attention to expanding the former Rock Hudson-John Landis home nearby, which he also bought in 1997.

The 10,000-square-foot Kollsman house with its 60-foot two-story living room remained intact for more than two years after Allen had purchased it, but it is gone now.

In its place, Westside sources have said, Allen plans to build a 50,000-square-foot house and 50,000 square feet of other buildings, plus an amphitheater.

Allen’s neighbor is media mogul Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox parent News Corp. Built in 1927, Murdoch’s home also was designed by Neff.

The Beverly Hills home of the late Allan Carr, who produced the movie musical “Grease” and the Tony-winning Broadway musical “La Cage aux Folles,” has come on the market at $3.6 million.

Carr, who died in June at 62, also managed such entertainers as Ann-Margret, Peter Sellers, Tony Curtis, Herb Alpert, Dyan Cannon, Paul Anka and Peggy Lee.

Carr was known as a party-giver extraordinaire, and his home, which he had owned since 1972, reflects this. The 5,000-square-foot-plus home, on lush grounds, has a grand living room, projection room, formal dining room, breakfast room, cantina, game room, pool, spa, cabana and five bedrooms, plus a two-bedroom guest house.

The house was built in 1928 as a guest house and entertainment center for an English manor-style house known as Hilhaven, which was later razed. Hilhaven was once owned and occupied by pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

Hilhaven Lodge, as Carr’s home was called, was sold to actress Ingrid Bergman during the early part of World War II.

The Country English-style home is listed with Dennis Fernow at Coldwell Banker’s Brentwood East office.

A 25,000-square-foot French chateau that was built on a 2.5-acre Beverly Hills-area knoll by antiques dealer Mark Slotkin has been totally refurbished since it was sold in June, and it is now back on the market at $18.9 million.

After Slotkin built the house in 1992, it was on and off the market for years. It was owned by a bank when sold last year to a businessman for about $8 million.

His plan was to change the dark Victorian decor. With the help of designer Mike Morrison, the dark and damaged parquet floors were sanded and refinished, and the dark paneling was painted to resemble white stone. Painting the interiors took six days a week for five months.

The dining room now has hand-painted canvas wall coverings depicting a bamboo garden, complete with birds and flowers. A 26-foot-long awning is being made to shade the balcony off the dining room, which overlooks what has been termed “Billionaires’ Canyon” because of the half-dozen billionaires who live there.

Designed by architect Gus Duffy, the house also has five bedrooms plus staff quarters, a ballroom, library, gym, sauna, breakfast room and pool.

The property was sold to Slotkin by singer Elton John in 1981.

Raymond Bekeris of John Bruce Nelson & Associates has the listing.

A 13.5-acre property in the Hope Ranch area of Santa Barbara has been listed at $16.9 million.

The property has an 11,000-square-foot French Country manor, built in 1991. The house has four bedrooms, a library, bar, office, wine room and hobby-art-game room.

The home also has two pools, a tennis court, ponds and a pathway down a canyon to a private beach.

The seller is a research-and-development entrepreneur. He wants to move because the house is too large for his needs now that two of his four children are away at college.

Randy Solakian of Coldwell Banker Previews, Montecito, has the listing.

Producer-director Michael Seitzman has purchased a Hollywood Hills villa built by W.C. Fields during the 1920s, sources have said.

Seitzman, 33, wrote the screenplay for the movie “Here on Earth,” due out in March. He is executive producer of an upcoming Warner Bros. TV series, which he is also writing. He wrote and directed the 1995 movie “Farmer and Chase.”

Seitzman purchased the three-bedroom Spanish-style home for close to its $799,000 asking price. The house also has a sun room and a garden courtyard with a fountain.

Andrea Farber from Prudential-John Aaroe’s Beverly Hills office represented Seitzman in the deal.

Brian Farrell of the company’s Pacific Design Center office had the listing.

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