Palatial living with majestic vistas
Charles Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis on the front meadow of this Montecito estate while paying a visit to his patron, Lora Knight.
Knight and her family used the property as a second home for many years after she had it built. Pasadena architect Myron Hunt designed it in 1924 to rival the grandeur of Knight’s home, known as “Vikings Holm,” at Lake Tahoe. Hunt envisioned the Montecito home as an example of Spanish hacienda architecture on a grand scale. Knight called the home “Cima Del Mundo,” meaning “Top of the World.” It sits on 11 acres with ocean, harbor, valley and mountain views.
About this house: Mark Cerami, founder of MSC Music & Entertainment and co-founder of Priority Records, and his wife, Jenean, bought the estate in 1998 and recently completed a major restoration of it.
Asking price: $40 million
Size: The estate has seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and five half bathrooms. The 22,000-square-foot manor house has a grand hall paneled in teakwood with a hand-painted barrel ceiling; a living room with a hand-carved vaulted teak ceiling; a formal dining room with a coffered walnut ceiling; a kitchen with a fireplace; a breakfast room with French doors; and a sunroom. The master suite has an office, a sitting room and a bathroom with heated towel racks and a fireplace.
Features: The estate also has a 3,000-bottle-capacity wine cellar and tasting room; a butler’s pantry with silver drawers and china cabinets; a bowling alley with a 1924-era ball return, automatic pin setup and computerized scoring; a billiards room with a 950-gallon tropical saltwater aquarium; a multilevel gym and sauna; a 15-seat theater and adjoining lobby; a professionally equipped bar; two laundry rooms with a total of eight washers and dryers; four safes; lush gardens, a mosaic pool, a waterfall and a spa. There is also a one-bedroom guesthouse with a full kitchen, a living room and a fireplace.
Where: Montecito
Listing agent: Rebecca Riskin, Village Properties, Montecito, (805) 565-8863
To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos (copies only; we cannot return the pictures) and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; or e-mail homeoftheweek@latimes.com.
