Estates

North Dearborn Street, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 5th 2011 at 1:02PM

Today's Chicago home combines the best of the city that was with the city that is. The six-bedroom home in the Gold Coast area was built in 1877. The home's exterior has been substantially re-built including a new facade, front steps and 2-car garage. The interior has been meticulously renovated including kitchens, baths, windows and mechanical system. The design makes the most of natural light and modern decor but keeps charming older details such as a handsome mahogany-paneled living room, plaster moldings and an original staircase. The eat-in kitchen has a butler's pantry and the luxurious master suite has a marble bath. There are three or four additional upstairs bedrooms with newer baths, and a bright lower level with a family room with built-ins and another bedroom and bath. This home is listed at $4.95 million.

Gallery: North Dearborn Street

Tags: chicago real estate, estate of the day, illinois real estate

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Dave Coulier Lists In Los Angeles

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 5th 2011 at 1:01AM

Funnyman Dave Coulier is perhaps best known for his role as goofy and loveable Uncle Joey in "Full House." His Encino house indicates that he's got a serious side and he may even be able to create a little real estate magic, making a modest profit in a tough market.

The home was originally known as Lindley Farm was built in 1947. The listing refers to the home as being "sensitively expanded." The five-bedroom home is on a lot that includes a pool which is away from the house and has a nice shaded area. The home's spaces are open and clean including the delightful large living room with an exposed beamed and pitched roof. A central brick fireplace marks a division from the terraced dining room which is a sunroom-like space looking out onto the back patio. The home's kitchen has pine cabinetry which is very retro but oddly charming. The master suite includes a den, walk-in closets and a large bath. There is also an office with a separate entrance and upstairs space with surround sound. The home has a complete interior/exterior sound system. He bought the home for $990,000 and is it listed with Carol Huston of Deasy/Penner & Partners for $1.649 million.

[via the LA Times]

Gallery: Dave Coulier in Encino

Tags: california real estate, celebrity real estate, dave coulier, encino real estate, los angeles real estate

Lenny Dykstra's Home Finally Sold

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 4th 2011 at 10:00PM

At long last the saga of Lenny Dykstra's former mansion in Thousand Oaks, California is over. We've been following this once for what seems like eons. It all began back in 2007 when the former Mets player nicknamed "Nails" bought the luxurious home from Wayne Gretzky for $18.5 million. At this point, Dykstra was on top of the world. Om 2008, the New Yorker featured an article on his new luxury magazine, The Players Club, aimed at professional athletes. The magazine was created to show the pros not just how to spend the massive amounts of money they earn but also how to keep their wealth and make smart decisions so they don't join the ranks of players who earn millions and wind up in financial trouble just a few years later. Sadly, Dykstra's own fortunes soon quickly unravelled amid lawsuits and feuds as he was chased by creditors and writers alike. The magazine folded and Dykstra's home hit the market in June 2008 for $24.95 million.

From there it only got worse. The six-bedroom home didn't sell, Dykstra's Gulfstream II was impounded, and the home was scheduled for a foreclosure auction which Dykstra averted by filing Chapter 11. Later the case was change to a Chapter 7 liquidation after Dykstra's plans to reorganize and regroup fell through. Jeff Smith of Index Investors, the second lienholder, bought the country club estate out of foreclosure last fall and now he has finally sold the home. It had been most recently on the market for $10.5 million. According to CNBC, Jeff Smith's attorney has said he will be working with Chase, which held Dykstra's mortgage, to split the proceeds.

The neo-Georgian home in the Lake Sherwood area was designed by architect Richard Landry. The lavish property also has a guest house, carriage house, tennis courts, pool, spa and gym on 6.69 acres.

Gallery: Lenny Dykstra in Thousand Oaks

Tags: celebrity real estate, lenny dykstra, los angeles real estate, thousand oaks

55 King Street, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 4th 2011 at 1:01PM

Today's home in Charleston, South Carolina didn't start out as a single family home. The home on King Street actually began life around 1762 as a double tenement on a very large lot. It was converted to a single family residence in the mid twentieth century. It has had only four owners and underwent major renovations under its present ownership beginning in the 1980s that included the addition of a swimming pool.

The home's ld kitchen house was redesigned into a guest house with high ceilings, a sleeping loft, two fireplaces, and an outdoor kitchen. The first floor of the main house has double parlors. The formal dining room as well as the family room open onto a spacious screened porch that overlooks the rear patio and pool. There are five fireplaces on the first floor, one of which is a focal point for the kitchen. The main house has five bedrooms, four full baths, and a laundry room on the upper floors. Other classic details include heart of pine floors, period woodwork, mantels and built-in shelving. The home is an intriguing mix of elegant, turned out rooms with brightly painted walls and antique furniture as well as more casual spaces that feature the home's untouched, exposed brick. This home is listed at $4.749 million.

Gallery: 55 King Road

Tags: charleston, charleston real estate, estate of the day, south carolina real estate

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Former Los Angeles Laker Chris Mihm Lists His Manhattan Beach Home

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 4th 2011 at 1:01AM

In the latest case of sports star real estate, former Los Angeles Laker Chris Mihm is looking to unload his home in the professional-sports-star enclave Manhattan Beach, California. The LA Times reports that Mihm has listed at a loss. The home is for sale for $2.099 million but he bought in 2004 for $2.16 million. Mihm played for the Lakers from 2004 to 2009. He later went to the Memphis Grizzlies before being sidelined by an injury.

The home is a newer Mediterranean, custom built in 2002. It has a 25-foot-high entry which must have been great for the seven-foot-tall basketball player. The five-bedroom home has a large master suite with a separate reading area and a large bathroom with dual sink vanity, separate steam shower and Jacuzzi tub. The remaining four bedrooms upstairs each have full baths, and walk in closets as does downstairs bedroom.

Manhattan Beach is full of homes that are very close together. This one offers a little breathing room with a large lot and a pool and spa in the back yard. Other features include coved ceilings in the formal dining room, a game room and an eat-in kitchen, which opens to a family room. There is a two-car garage as well as a one-car garage, each with separate driveways. This property is listed with Chad Fahlbusch of Northwest Realty, Manhattan Beach.

Gallery: Chris Mihm in Manhattan Beach

Tags: celebrity real estate, los angeles real estate, manhattan, manhattan beach real estate, sports star real estate

Sonny Bono's Former Palm Springs Home Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 3rd 2011 at 9:01PM

The Palm Springs estate once owned by Sonny Bono and his wife, Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack is back up for sale. The LA Times reports that the home is listed at $3.995 million. The listing reveals that the gated estate may have been part of the original King Camp Gillette estate (Gillette was the investor of the modern safety razor and built a home in the Mesa area of Palm Springs in the early 1920s). Sonny Bono rose to fame as part of the duo Sonny and Cher, cranking out hit songs and starring on a popular variety show. He later moved out to Palm Springs and became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. He died in a skiing accident in 1998. Congresswoman Mack now holds his former seat as the representative for the Palm Springs District. This home was sold in 1998 for $1.4 million.

The three-bedroom main house has a family kitchen, formal dining room, formal living room and large family room with views out over the pool and towards the mountains. The property also has a two-bedroom guest house with full kitchen, dining room and living room with rock fireplace and original hardwood floors. There is also a second smaller guest house with one bedroom that is currently in use as a gym. The 1.5 acre estate has a tennis court and pool. Patrick V. Jordan and Stewart Smith of Patrick / Stewart Properties, Windermere Real Estate, Palm Springs, have the listing.

Gallery: The Mesa

Tags: california real estate, celebrity real estate, mary bono mack, palm springs real estate, sonny bono

Shack Mountain, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 3rd 2011 at 1:01PM

If you love the elegant look of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, today's estate might just next best thing. Shack Mountain was designed by Fiske Kimball, (1888-1955), a an aficionado of Jeffersonian architecture and the first Chair of the University of Virginia's School of Architecture. Completed in 1937, Shack Mountain, Kimball's home, carries many of the hallmarks of Jefferson's architectural ideals. The front of the house is an elongated octagon dominated by a Tuscan portico with paired columns, a shape Jefferson believed ideal for light.

The home is located minutes from downtown Charlottesville and the University of Virginia and protected on one side by the Ivy Creek Natural Area owned by the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County and on another side by an historic estate subject to a conservation easement meaning that Shack Mountain's privacy is ensured in perpetuity. It is on 102 acres that are mostly wooded with open fields to the north and east and lovely mountain views. It has never been for sale on the open market before and guessing at the listing picture of the kitchen I'm guessing some renovations might be needed. But please, dear future owner, be gentle. You wouldn't put granite countertops in Monticello now would you? This home is listed at $4.495 million.

Gallery: Shack Mountain

[Thanks, Spec.]

Tags: Charlottesville, charlottesville virginia, estate of the day, virginia real estate

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Jesse Metcalfe Lists His Beverly Hills Post Office Area Home

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 3rd 2011 at 3:01AM

Jesse Metcalfe is moving on. The former Desperate Housewives star bought his home in the Beverly Hills Post Office area in 2007. The Real Estalker reveals that Metcalfe paid $2.2 million for the three-bedroom home. The Mediterranean style property was built in 1999 and the listing terms it a sexy and hip home. The lot is of modest size but it does have a nice private backyard with water features and a stone hot tub perched high up a hill behind the house. The property also includes a full size guest cottage up the same hill.

The living room has a stone fireplace, French doors, hardwood floors and is currently outfitted with a Persian rug and a piano. Although only in his early 30s, Metcalfe has owned at least three houses in the Los Angeles area and made a modest profit on the two he sold in 2008 and 2006. That probably won't be the case here, his home is listed at $2.2 million, exactly what he paid for it.

Gallery: Jesse Metcalfe In Beverly Hills

Tags: beverly hills post office, beverly hills real estate, celebrity real estate, los angeles real estate

Searles Castle Still On The Market

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 3rd 2011 at 1:01AM

A recent MSN article prompted me to take another look at a former estate of the day which has had a price cut. I've actually been hearing about this one since 2007 when it first hit the market. Searles Castle in Great Barrington, Massachusetts has 40 rooms and seven turrets. The home, which had most recently served as a private school went up for sale for $15 million back then but is now listed for $12.5 million with William Raveis.

Searles Castle is one of two in the New England region (the other is in New Hampshire) that bear the name of Edward Searles. Mary Hopkins, the widow of railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins commissioned the castle which was built in 1888. She hired interior decorator Edward Searles for the project, and they married a year before it was finished (she was 22 years older than he). After she died he stayed in the castle for a time and then after his death it became private private school and then conference center among other businesses and was most recently the John Dewey Academy.

Tags: castle for sale, massachusetts real estate, searles castle

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Santa Monica Penthouse Oceanview, Estate of the Day

by Ann Brenoff (RSS feed) — Feb 2nd 2011 at 1:01PM

There are certain landmark properties in the Los Angeles area that always cause tourists to lean far out the car window to snap a photo or two to show the folks back home. The building overhanging the Pacific Coast Highway just past Santa Monica's California Incline is one of them. Maybe it's the circular nose that hangs over the highway, or maybe it's the skinny little front legs it seems to perch on. But whatever the appeal, it's a magnet for lookie-loos. Even I find myself straining my neck upward to peek inside some of the units as I whiz by on the road.

And now the 4,000-square-foot penthouse unit has just come on the market at $4,925,000. While not as breath-taking a price-tag as faithful readers of Luxist's Estate of the Day have become accustomed to, it's a breath-taking unit in a eye-catching landmark. And for you faint-of-hearters, we have every reason to believe that the hillsides around it, despite their precarious look each time it rains, aren't going anywhere. Hey, this is L.A. Toughen up!

Billed somewhat immodestly as the most-sought after penthouse in Santa Monica, we are hard-pressed to disagree. It's the only two-story unit of its size in the building and has ocean views from every room, plus 180-degree jetliner views of the city lights. There are three large bedrooms and three bathrooms plus an over-sized master suite with two large walk-in closets, floor-to-ceiling windows, marble and hardwood floors and high ceilings. Amenities in the building include a gym, pool, spa and valet parking. There is around-the-clock security. With the main entrance on Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica restaurants and shops are a short walk away.

Next time I drive by, I hope you'll wave.

Josh and Matthew Altman of Hilton & Hyland Real Estate, Beverly Hills, have the listing.

Gallery: 101 Ocean

Tags: california real estate, estate of the day, los angeles real estate, santa monica, santa monica real estate

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Tyler Perry Drops The Price On His Los Angeles Home

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 2nd 2011 at 6:01AM

The Real Estalker brings my attention to another celebrity willing to take a price cut in order to say farewell to a home. The multi-talented actor/writer/director Tyler Perry bought a home high above the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles for $9.6 million back in 2006. Perry, who raised eyebrows last year when he bought the Dean Gardens estate in Georgia with plans to tear it down and build a new mega mansion, had listed his chic four-bedroom contemporary for $13.25 million in June 2010. Flash forward to now and Perry seems to be in a selling state of mind, paring down the price to $11.595 million.

There is now also a property website for the home full of jaw-dropping images of the ultra-glam lair which includes movie-star touches like a mirrored alcove in the billiards room that is actually a window into the swimming pool and a glass floor of a catwalk that is also the ceiling of the wine cellar. The home also has a gym, screening room and fully-equipped nightclub.

Gallery: Tyler Perry in Los Angeles

Tags: celebrity real estate, los angeles real estate, tyler perry

Ray Allen Re-Lists His Washington Home

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 2nd 2011 at 5:00AM

Our friends at Curbed alerted us to a change in the slow seller files. Boston Celtics player Ray Allen is trying once again to unload his five-bedroom estate in Carnation, Washington. When he played for the Seattle Super Sonics he lived in the home but he was traded to the Celtics in 2007. We covered the home in 2008 when it was first listed at $6 million and then reduced to $5.2 million. Like many sports stars after a relocation, Allen was unable to sell and pulled the home from the market. Now it's back with a new low price tag. It is listed with Matrix Real Estate for $3.7 million.

Allen's Craftsman-style estate is on nearly 4.5 acres. It's a rather nice home with vaulted entryways, box beam ceilings and a casual style. It is a former Street of Dreams Award winning home and includes a gourmet kitchen, home theater, office and exercise room. The home has a lot of exterior features too such as a putting green, pool, exterior cabana and a sports court connected with well-landscaped pathways. The press release from Matrix real estate says that Allen made several customizations including the addition of an elaborate master suite with a double-sided fireplace, attached office/nursery, two room-sized walk-in closets and a travertine-tiled spa bathroom.

Gallery: Ray Allen's Washington Home

Tags: carnation, celebrity real estate, ray allen, sports star real estate, washington real estate

CNBC Profiles The Country's Wildest Homes

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 2nd 2011 at 2:01AM

Off the grid or off the wall, there's a lot of wacky real estate out there. CNBC and TopTenRealEstateDeals.com have come up with a list called The Top 10 Weird but Wonderful Homes. Their slide show reveals both grand castles and more rustic earthships and dome homes. Some are pricey, some are humble, some are off the grid but all are designed to garner a "wow." Check out the slideshow here.

Tags: estates, real estate

Hazard Castle Gets A Price Cut

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 2nd 2011 at 12:00AM

While browsing around today, I noticed that one of our former estate of the day properties has had a price drop since we last checked it out. The rather unique Hazard Castle is in Narragansett, Rhode Island. It is located on over 38 acres along Ocean Road. The Gothic Revival landmark was built between 1846 and 1889 and has an 105-foot tower. It was built by Joseph Peace Hazard who was involved in textile manufacturing and was one of the first people to see the potential of Narrangsett Pier as a recreation destination.

The property also includes a barn, garage, guest apartments and a 21,000 square foot retreat center with a full cafeteria, meeting space, and chapel. It was purchased by the Catholic Diocese from the Hazard family in 1951 and was home to the Our Lady of Peace Spiritual Center. It could be renovated as an estate, hotel or development but the amount of work required may be putting some buyers off. A shame since it looks to be a really fantastic property. It was listed at $7 million in 2009 but is now at $5.95 million with Lila Delman.

Gallery: Hazard Castle

Tags: hazard castle, narragansett, narragansett real estate, rhode island real estate

Kate Moss Sells Her Money Pit Mansion for $16 Million

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) — Feb 1st 2011 at 7:01PM

It turns out that far from stretching her bank account to buy a new $12 million mansion in London, savvy supermodel Kate Moss actually made a killing by selling her trouble-prone previous residence for a whopping $16 million. As we reported last week Moss and rock star boyfriend Jamie Hince just moved into an historic brick estate in Highgrove with a literary history. Prior to that she'd been living in another mansion in posh St. John's Wood which had become something of a nightmare. In recent months Moss had been plagued by both flooding and burglars, while neighbors prepared to begin noisy construction work. Now the London Telegraph reports that despite all the problems she just unloaded the old place for an impressive $16 million, pocketing a cool $4 million by moving to new digs. Of course, as we noted in our earlier report some of that will go toward luxe upgrades in her new place, including a karaoke room and private gym.

Tags: celebrity, celebrity real estate, Kate Moss, London, mansion, supermodel

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