Architect Steve Herman has just finished this amazing glass house in Montecito, California. He calls it the “Glass Pavalion.” The lot measures 3.5 acres and has provided lot’s of space for the design. Mr. Herman usually designs houses in Hollywood and Beverly Hills on much smaller lots.
The first level has a huge car garage for car collectors, with walnut columns. The house also has 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, a wine room and an art gallery. Many of the furnishings are also designed by Mr. Herman. The property was initially designed by Mr. Herman for his own use and took 6 years to built. However, midway he had a daughter, who is 10-months old now and he changed his plans.
The house is up for sale for $35 million.
So what’s the point of having a multi-million mansion if you never live in it? That’s what many people are asking after reading an MSNBC.com article about heiress Hugette Clark, who inherited her father’s Montana mining fortune and promptly became a recluse. However, that doesn’t mean that she’s given up her family’s estates, including very expensive properties in California, Connecticut and New York.
Her father was once a senator and copper magnate reported to be among the richest men in the world whose political career was ruined after it came out that he bought his way to power. Now 104, Clark has chosen to spend her remaining days inside a hospital — her health reportedly deteriorated and she has spent the past 22 years inside of a hospital or nursing home after the death of her mother. She’s shut out the rest of the world, only speak to her attorney and her accountant.
Her seclusion has also meant that her extensive personal properties have sat dormant for decades. She has a $100 million, almost 22,000-square foot estate in Santa Barbara called Bellosguardo which she apparently hasn’t visited in 50 years. However, a team of groundskeepers perform daily maintenance on the estate following handwritten instructions she sent decades ago.
Also sitting unused but well taken care of is her Connecticut “country home” — an almost 13,000-square foot house currently on the market for $24 million and her 42-room apartment overlooking Central Park. In fact, Clark is so reclusive that the caretakers who are in charge of maintaining her estates aren’t even sure if she is dead or alive.
Dennis Hopper who died in May 2010 had built an interesting house in Venice Beach (Los Angeles), which is for sale now at $6.245 Million. Designed by Architect Frank Gehry this property features a barn-style house and three townhouses totaling over 15,500 SQ FT. In the exterior, there is a pool, pool house, and bungalow-style guest cottage.
The condominiums are also available for sale separately, with prices ranging from $750,000 to $1.05 million.
Jade Mills of Beverly Hills-based Coldwell Banker Previews International, who has the listing with Jane Gavens said, “With its undulating aluminum and steel exterior, the main residence is an ode to the industrial look,” and “This property represents a truly rare find. It is an artist’s ‘dream-come-true’ with its light-filled interiors and its artistic heritage.”
Dennis Hopper used this house as center of his artistic output and entertained friends like Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. Dennis Hopper was an actor, artist, photographer, and filmmaker.
Below you will see some pictures of this property.
Real estate professionals who have been dealing with luxury homes have taken a major hit in recent years as the economic downturn has made it difficult to sell multimillion dollar homes. However, Forbes.com reports that the recent sale of one the most expensive mansions in the United States might be a reason for some hope. Le Belvedere, a sprawling 10-bedroom, 14-bathroom estate on a 2.2-acre bluff in Bel Air, Calif. sold on June 4 to an unidentified European family for as much as $72 million.
The estate was built by Mohamed Hadid, a developer of the Ritz Carlton Hotels, as a personal home. Hadid put the house on the market at $85 million in early 2009 but was forced to drop the price to $72 by the end of the year. The house has been in escrow since May. The sale of Le Belvedere is believed to be the largest private real estate sale in 2010 and one of the largest sales ever handled by a broker.
There are plenty of even more expensive estates near Le Belvedere that are still on the market. Candy Spelling (the widow of television executive Aaron Spelling) is selling her nearby Beverly Hills mansion for $150 million, while another marble classical-style dwelling is on the market for $125 million less than a mile away.
In today’s economy, many Americans have been forced to sell their homes for significantly lower than their original asking price. If you fall into this category, take heart that you aren’t alone: this trend has impacted the real estate market from the top on down. As Forbes reports, even the most expensive homes in America have seen their asking prices reduced in order to sell.
One example is Le Belvedere, a sprawling mansion in Bel Air, California. Real estate developer Mohamad Hadid - known for developing five-star hotels for Ritz-Carlton - originally put the 10 bedroom, 14 bathroom estate on the market last year for $85 million. However, after he had trouble finding a buyer at that price, he was forced to reduce the asking price by more than 15 percent and cut it to $72 million. The tactic appears to have worked - the estate is now in escrow for an undisclosed price.
Another example is the Bootjack Ranch, a rambling property in Colorado. The ranch’s owners had to reduce the asking price several times from the original $88 million price tag. The estate sold earlier this month to an undisclosed buyer for $47 million - almost half of the original asking price.
How much would you be willing to pay for a home? How about $150 million dollars? That’s what Candy Spelling, the wife of the late television impresario Aaron Spelling, is asking for her 56,500 square-foot, English-style home simply known as The Manor. The sprawling Southern California estate recently topped Forbes Magazine’s list of the most expensive homes in America.
As you would expect, The Manor has some features that most homes on the market lack, such as a bowling alley, wine cellars and a room dedicated to gift wrapping. The 4.6 acre complex also has parking for 100 cars. However, even though that’s the asking price, the true value is set by the market, and the fact that The Manor has been listed as “for sale” since 2008 shows that perhaps even a house this opulent might not be worth $150 million.
A new estate making the list of most expensive homes this year is in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Kaiser Estate is the former home of American industrialist Henry Kaiser and was put up for sale last year for a price of $80 million. The estate is actually three different parcels of land that together make up 5.5 acres. Along with stunning views of Oahu, the Kaiser Estate features a 15,000-square-foot home and 12,000-square-foot boathouse and marina.
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