A Montecito luxury real estate owned by author Amanda Brown and her husband Justin Chang is now available market for $18.5 million. Amanda and Justin bought the luxury property four years ago for $16.8 million from former Baxter Healthcare vice president, Jack McGinley.
Cape Dutch-style home with executive pedigree asks $18.5 million in Montecito
Designed by architect Ambrose Cramer and built in 1931, the Cape Dutch-style estate sits on more than three acres with a backdrop of the Santa Ynez Mountains and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. Elaborately rounded gables, sets of double-hung windows and a whitewashed facade are characteristic of the style popularized in the Western Cape of South Africa during the early 17th century… Read more at LATimes.com
The Cape Dutch-style architecture started in Cape Town, South Africa during the 1800’s. This type of architecture had influences from medieval Holland and Germany, Indonesia, and French Huguenots. Which had white washed walls and thatch roofs with a simple symmetrical facade.
CONSTANTIA — MONTECITO CAPE DUTCH ESTATE
The early Cape Dutch style houses were built very symmetrically— the central door was the focal point, and on either side, two half-windows were equally spaced with two or four full-width windows. The kitchens had open fireplaces and a Dutch oven fitted with iron bars to hold cooking pots. As Cape Town grew, so did the elaborate design of the Cape Dutch style… Read more at Montecito-RealEstate.com
ONE OF A KIND 1930S CAPE DUTCH ESTATE IN MONTECITO
Staggering mountain views and ocean vistas surround this 1930s Cape Dutch estate. Magnificent grounds, of about 3.5 acres, plus an A+ location are a rare find! This spectacular, renovated residence was designed by noted architect, Ambrose Cramer. The home retains the charm and… See more here
Host of “Today”, Natalie Morales recently moved in the west coast and picks up $6.8 million newly-built luxury home in Brentwood, Los Angeles.
Her new 7,000 sq.ft. luxury home has a combination of traditional and contemporary design, with five baths, six bedrooms, and a fireplace inside the master suite.
‘Today’ Host Natalie Morales Picks Up $6.8M Brentwood Home
Light wood floors stretch throughout the main floor, and a wall of folding french doors leads to an outdoor entertainment space with a pool. The spacious kitchen has an oversize island, and the formal dining room is next to a wine wall set within tempered glass. The home came on the market in… Read more at Realtor.com
Natalie’s luxury home features sliding doors that opens up the rooms in the basement to the backyard. It also has a wine wall in the main dining area and she also has a closet that will make every woman very envious.
You’re Probably Going To Be Jealous Of Natalie Morales’ New Home
It seems Natalie Morales is trading her Hoboken townhouse for a Los Angeles mansion. The Los Angeles Times reports the “Today” show anchor and her husband bought a home in the Brentwood neighborhood for $6.8 million. The home is over 7,000 square feet, complete with… Read more at Kivitv.com
Natalie Morales buys new home in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles-area home was purchased for $6.8 million… Watch here
L.A. Clippers’ superstar point guard Chris Paul is planning to make a change to his home lineup, listing his luxury estate in Bel-Air up for sale at $11.4 million. It was 4 years ago that the NBA All-Star bought the 8-bedroom, 11-bathroom luxurious mansion 4 years ago from singer, Avril Lavigne for $8.4 million.
L.A. Clippers star Chris Paul puts his Bel-Air home in play at $11.5 million
The 12,184 square feet of interior has been updated during Paul’s ownership and features vibrant hardwood floors, modern fixtures and white gallery walls. Among the amenities are a 12-seat theater, a billiards room and a gym with a sauna. An elevator services both floors… Read more at Los Angeles Times
Just because 9-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul listed his Bel-Air luxury home for $11.5 million, that does not mean he is leaving the Clippers via free agency. While the L.A. Clippers’ star point guard is giving up this SoCal luxury home, he bought another luxury home in Calabasas last time.
NBA Superstar Chris Paul Selling Bel Air Mansion for $11.5M
Among its more arresting features are a subterranean wine cellar with storage for 500 bottles, a 12-seat home theater, an elevator, a billiard room, a gym with sauna, a 10-car garage, and a backyard that includes a covered entertainment area, a kitchen, a barbecue station, and a pool… Read more at Realtor.com
LA Clippers’ Chris Paul Calabasas House – Chris Paul Cars Collection (LA Clippers)
L.A. Clippers star Chris Paul has bought a home in Calabasas for $8.995 million. The star point guard, who bought the Bel-Air home of singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne three years ago, has paid $8.995 million for an estate in a guard-gated community popular among celebrities and professional athletes… Watch here
Today, Palm Beach is at the focal point of the current luxury real estate market and two of the most expensive luxury homes are on the same road.
So dock your yacht and go along with us through today’s most costly luxury real estate in Palm Beach.
Palm Beach Story: This Week’s Most Expensive New Listings
And while a $28.5 million Palm Beach mansion tops our look at the most expensive properties to hit the market this week, it’s far from the city’s priciest listing. In fact, it doesn’t even crack the… Read more at Realtor.com
Palm Beach is an island of ritz, fabulousness, and beautiful design going back decades. The individuals who adore history will be satisfied with two of Palm Beach’s most expensive luxury homes that were built during the 1920s.
Palm Beach’s 10 Most Expensive Homes: Tennis Courts, Pools, And More Toilets Than Ever
By far the most expensive home on the market is the opulent estate at 1220 South Ocean Blvd., with an asking price of $74 million. The gated home exudes Florida-meets-Versailles wealth with a sprawling garden, palm trees, intricate detailing, arches and columns. Another impressive home, “only” $24 million, was inspired by the crystal seas along the shores of… See more at The Huffington Post
Luxury Homes in Florida – 1300 East Lake Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Ellen DeGeneres sold the very same luxury home in Hollywood in 2007 for $10 million, then bought it back in 2014 for $8.75 million. Then again, sold it for $9.9 million to Barry Schwartz, co-founder of Calvin Klein Inc.
Will it go round in circles? In the case of the home-flipping habits of Ellen DeGeneres, yes. DeGeneres made the market spin again with the sale of a Hollywood Hills West home that she’s now sold for a second time, the Los Angeles… Read more at Realtor.com
Ellen is now considered as one of Hollywood’s biggest celebrity home flippers, over the previous decade she already owned and sold seven luxury properties.
She had a $1.2 million tree house, a $12 million Malibu beach luxury estate and a luxurious mansion priced at $40 million that she flipped and already sold for a $15 million profit.
Ellen DeGeneres shines in the spotlight most notably as a talk show host who enjoys gifting her guests with swag featuring her face on it. But, most of her personal life remains low-profile. In an off-market deal, DeGeneres and her wife Portia just sold their Hollywood Hills home for $9.9 million… Read more at Forbes
Tennis extraordinaire Ivan Lendl has recommitted to coaching the recent Wimbledon champ Andy Murray, and he’s recommitted to offering his luxurious Connecticut estate for $19,750,000.
The 8-time Grand Slam champion had beforehand recorded the 450-section of land property in 2014 at a similar price tag.
There’s no doubt they’ll miss driving down a tree-lined lane, through meadows and pastures, to reach the entrance to their 25,000-square-foot mansion with 10 bedrooms,12 bathrooms, and three half-baths. The grand rooms, including a ballroom-size living room, feature polished wood plank floors, ornate custom molding and wainscoting, crystal… Read more at Realtor.com
This luxurious mansion is fit for a world-class champion athlete, it has sports amenities which include a lower-level gym of more than 1,800 sq. ft., a basketball court and a separate tennis court, a workout room with sauna, indoor and outdoor pools, and a game room.
Are you looking for your forever home? Can you afford a $79,000 mortgage payment — per month? Yes? Ivan Lendl has just the place you’ve been looking for. He has returned to the real estate world with his 450-acre Connecticut estate that has been on-and-off the market over the years. The new price is just $19,750,000. Before you freak out… Read more at Busted Coverage
In the early 1920s, Wilshire Boulevard west of Western Avenue was an unpaved farm road, extending through dairy farms and bean fields. Developer A. W. Ross saw potential for the area and developed Wilshire as a commercial district to rival downtown Los Angeles.
The Miracle Mile development was initially anchored by the May Company Department Store with its landmark 1939 Streamline Moderne building on the west and the E. Clem Wilson Building on the east, then Los Angeles’s tallest commercial building. The Wilson Building had a dirigible mast on top and was home to a number of businesses and professionals relocating from downtown.
The success of the new alternative commercial and shopping district negatively affected downtown real estate values and triggered development of the multiple downtowns which characterize contemporary Los Angeles.
Ross’s insight was that the form and scale of his Wilshire strip should attract and serve automobile traffic rather than pedestrian shoppers. He applied this design both to the street itself and to the buildings lining it. Ross gave Wilshire various “firsts,” including dedicated left-turn lanes and timed traffic lights, the first in the United States.
He also required merchants to provide automobile parking lots, all to aid traffic flow. Major retailers such as Desmond’s, Silverwood’s, May Co., Coulter’s, Mullen & Bluett, Myer Siegel, and Seibu eventually spread down Wilshire Boulevard from Fairfax to La Brea.
Ross ordered that all building facades along Wilshire be engineered so as to be best seen through a windshield. This meant larger, bolder, simpler signage and longer buildings in a larger scale. They also had to be oriented toward the boulevard and architectural ornamentation and massing must be perceptible at 30 MPH (50 km/h) instead of at walking speed.
These building forms were driven by practical requirements but contributed to the stylistic language of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne.
Ross’s moves were unprecedented, a huge commercial success, and proved historically influential. Ross had invented the car-oriented urban form — what Reyner Banham called “the linear downtown” model later adopted across the United States.
The moves also contributed to Los Angeles’s reputation as a city dominated by the car. A sculptural bust of Ross stands at 5800 Wilshire, with the inscription, “A. W. Ross, founder and developer of the Miracle Mile. Vision to see, wisdom to know, courage to do.”
As wealth and newcomers poured into the fast-growing city, Ross’s parcel became one of Los Angeles’s most desirable areas. Acclaimed as “America’s Champs-Élysées,”[1] this stretch of Wilshire near the La Brea Tar Pits was named “Miracle Mile” for its improbable rise to prominence. Although the preponderance of shopping malls and the development in the 1960s of financial and business districts in downtown and Century City lessened the Miracle Mile’s importance as a retail and business center, the area has retained its vitality thanks to the addition of several museums and commercial high-rises.
Note: According to historian David Leighton, of the Arizona Daily Star newspaper the Miracle Mile in Tucson, Arizona derives its name from Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile.
A work of art perched high above LA with unobstructed 180-degree views stretching from Santa Monica Bay, the Westside, and Downtown L.A. to the San Gabriel Mountains
Hacienda De La Paz
Listed by Christophe Choo of Coldwell Banker Previews International in Beverly Hills at $48 million.
Hacienda de la Paz is an awe-inspiring work of art and engineering. Positioned in L.A.’s preeminent equestrian community, the authentic Spanish estate is the only U.S. residence designed by world-renowned architect Rafael Manzano Martos. 17 years in the making, this private palace is perched 1100 ft. above L.A. at the crest of the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the 24 hr. guard-gated city of Rolling Hills; one of the safest and wealthiest cities in America.
Breathtaking and unencumbered 180-degree panoramic vistas encompass the beaches, downtown and the San Gabriel Mountains. Amenities include a 10,000 sq. ft. hamam spa fit for a king, 15,000 sq. ft. neoclassical grand ballroom, 2 tennis courts; indoor hard court & outdoor clay court, 2 swimming pools; indoor & outdoor, access to 57 miles of equestrian & hiking trails, guesthouse, bocce court, gym, yoga room, wine cellar, catering facilities, geothermal heating & cooling system, elevators, 6 car garage and motor court. Approx. 8 acres.
Hacienda de la Paz is the most misunderstood mansion in Los Angeles. When people hear that 31,000 of its 51,000 total square feet are underground, they assume it’s a bizarrely builtbomb shelter. Not so, dear reader. But there is a pragmatic reason for its subterranean sprawl: local politics.
The estate is located in one of the wealthiest suburbs of L.A., a gated hilltop called Rolling Hills, where zoning restrictions prohibit homes taller than one story, so as not to block pristine ocean views.
To comply, owner John Z. Blazevich spent 17 years excavating downward to create his dream estate, which includes nine bedrooms, 25 bathrooms, a guesthouse, two tennis courts, and two pools.
Envisioning an Andalusian-style country estate similar to those in Cordoba or Seville at the turn of last century, Blazevich hired architect Raphael Manzano Martos, who restored a number of Spain’s grand palaces and served as curator to Spain’s King Juan Carlos. The regal result is the only private residence Manzano Martos ever designed in the Americas.
Gardens
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There’s also a 10,000-square-foot underground hammam, or spa, and a 15,000-square-foot indoor tennis court that doubles as a ballroom.
Hammam
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Thousands of international craftsmen were employed to make the dream a reality, including one painter who lived and worked on-site for a decade. Three hundred Moroccan tribesmen worked on the intricately carved sandstone ceiling, archways, and capitals in the hammam. Artisans from Spain created the wooden interlocking ceilings, masons from Portugal worked on the limestone bricks in the driveways, and Spanish and Indian silk and wool experts wove the custom carpets.
For some people, the joy is in the process, not the product. Once his dream was gloriously complete down to the last Valencia orange tree, Blazevich put the 8-acre estate on the market. Listed for $53 million a few years ago, the asking price was dropped to $48 million a couple of weeks ago.
However, when you actually tour the grounds, as we did (covering only part of it over three hours), you begin to realize that it’s nearly impossible to put a price on it. We’ve highlighted a few of our favorite features.
Everything the most committed foodie could desire
Blazevich is a seafood magnate, and his fiancée, Alexandra McLeod, graduated from Le Cordon Bleu. So Hacienda de la Paz is equipped with four kitchens and two kitchenettes; several outdoor food prep spaces, one with a pizza oven; facilities for pressing oil from olives harvested on the property; and more than 100 fruit trees, including lemons, oranges, avocados, figs, and, of course, olives. There’s also a large vegetable garden, and herbs are planted around the estate, even between the steppingstones, so their fragrance will rise to greet you as you stroll the grounds.
Hallway
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Iconic craftsmanship and artwork
There are many nods to the Catholic Church, but they are more artistic and whimsical than devotional. In the ladies’ guest bathroom on the ground floor there’s an ornately carved confessional door between two stalls, perfect for chatting. There’s also a chapel with hand-painted murals and a confessional, meant for reflection and meditation rather than ceremony. These features keep with the theme of a true Andalusian estate, which historically would have accommodated a priest in residence.
Surprisingly sustainable energy sources
Heating and cooling systems run on geothermal power, which also heats the hammam pool. Blazevich says he has reduced his energy bill and carbon dioxide emissions by 65%, compared with a conventional HVAC system. And because designers used the same classical techniques employed in Andalusia’s great estates—sturdy adobe walls and carved wooden screens covering most of the windows—the air-conditioning system is hardly ever used.
Ballroom and tennis court
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A-list fundraising facilities
Millions of dollars have been raised at charity events held in the subterranean marble ballroom (which is also a tennis court) built into the side of the hill, which has vehicle access for deliveries and exotic autos to be displayed. The 10,000-square-foot hammam with whirlpools, massage rooms, and tearooms with silk-lined walls is perfect for “ladies’ day” fundraisers. The rest of the grounds can accommodate hundreds of people at a time.
Guest bedroom
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So with all these custom, luxurious features, why the heck would the owners want to part with it?
“It’s a little big for just the two of us, don’t you think?” Blazevich asks, explaining that now that his son has left the nest and the artisans have completed their work and gone home, the facilities don’t get used as much as they deserve. Blazevich and McLeod are ready to move on and spend more time with family in Croatia.
The property is so accommodating, a multitude of possible uses comes to mind: an arts retreat, a foundation headquarters, or perhaps the bastion of one of the world’s great families. We’ll keep you posted.
Top stories this week on luxurious estates, homes and properties.
Price Upon Request | Venice, Italy | Venice Sotheby’s International Realty
“Just in time for the Venice Film Festival, a former vacation home of film actress Sophia Loren has come up for sale in Venice, Italy, for about $6.6 million.”
Highlights from the current week’s top news stories on luxurious estates and properties, art, collectibles and home.
$9,995,000 USD | Washington, District of Columbia | TTR Sotheby’s International Realty
“This home is less than three blocks from the neighborhood epicenter of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street NW. Originally built in the 1960s, the renovating architects secured the necessary approvals to make structural changes to the home, which led to its $8 million renovation in the early 2010s.”
Moderne building
