Archive for the ‘Interesting Houses’ Category


Saturday, December 24th, 2011 at 8:06 AM

Coastal-Ridge Contemporary

From the Contemporist.com:

This contemporary residence is designed to seamlessly open unto the panoramic coastal ridge-top site via expansive operable glazed walls. The glazed transparency is balanced and the home is anchored in place by substantial cut native sandstone walls. The architectural design evolved from our client’s desire for a home that is a tranquil place for living, art and retreat.

The project site is located on a ridge in the foothills of Carpinteria, ten miles down the coast from Santa Barbara. The program asked for a master suite, one guest room, a study for two, a more contained den and an informal open living space they could share with their children and grand children.

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Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 5:53 PM

$14.1 Million Razor No Kitchen

You’ve never seen a kitchen photo, have you?  Hat tip to JS for sending this in, from the U-T:

A luxury bankruptcy home in La Jolla once featured in TV commercials has been sold for almost a third of its original asking price of $45 million, based on details from the property’s listing agent on Wednesday.

PHOTOS: http://hurwitzjamesco.com/property.php?lng=en&id=9

Beverly Hills-based Bob Hurwitz said “The Razor” property, considered by designers as an architectural marvel, has closed escrow. The buyer, an East Coaster, paid $14.1 million in cash, added Hurwitz, of the Hurwitz James Company. More details are expected to be released on Thursday.

Public records show about $34 million was spent building the 11,000-square-foot estate, which has never been occupied. Construction began in 2002 and was completed in 2008. The original sale price was set at $45 million but has consistently been slashed according to the market and even more when it became a bankruptcy property.

The Razor house, 9826 La Jolla Farms Road, was originally set to be sold at a Sept. 27 auction, but that was canceled because there were no qualified bidders.

The auction was then rescheduled to Nov. 10, with the starting bid shaved to $13.9 million from the $16 million set in September. The property again could not be sold because none of the bidders came close to what the bank would accept, at least $17 million, according to the listing company.

The oceanfront home is the bankruptcy estate of Jimmy Donald Cooksey Jr., according to public records. It is the work of San Diego-based architectural designer Wallace E. Cunningham, named one of Architectural Digest’s Top 100 Designers.

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 at 11:44 AM

Foreign Buyers!

From Forbes.com:

Former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill listed his 6,744-square-foot apartment at 15 Central Park West for an astonishing $88 million in November, promising to donate the proceeds of the sale to charity.

Now comes news that Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the 22-year-old daughter of the Russian billionaire Dmitriy Rybolovlev, is buying the condominium. Rybolovleva is studying at an undisclosed U.S. university and plans to stay in the apartment when visiting New York. According to a source familiar with the sale, she paid the full asking price of $88 million, setting a record for highest individual transaction in New York City history.

Here is the official statement from her representatives:

A company associated with Ekaterina Rybolovleva, daughter of a well-known businessman Dmitriy Rybolovlev, has signed a contract to purchase an apartment at 15 Central Park West, New York. The apartment is a condominium currently owned by the Sanford Weill Family. Ms. Rybolovleva is currently studying at a US university. She plans to stay in the apartment when visiting New York. Ms. Rybolovleva was born in Russia, is a resident of Monaco and has resided in Monaco and Switzerland for the past 15 years.”

The apartment, in one of the toniest postwar buildings in Manhattan, has 10 rooms, including 4 bedrooms, a wraparound terrace of more than 2,000 sq. feet, 4 bedrooms and 2 wood-burning fireplaces.

“This sale is an outlier. It works out to be about $13,000 per square foot, the highest on record, for anything, that has ever occurred,” says Jonathan Miller, the chief executive of real-estate appraiser Miller Samuel. “What is ironic is that when Sandy Weill bought it for less than half this amount, he paid the highest price per square foot to date in that building, around, $6,400 per sq. foot. He is again setting a record.”

The previous New York City record had been set back before the market crash when investor Christopher Flowers paid $53 million for a townhouse at 4 East 75th Street. He resold the property on Aug. 15 for just over $36 million.

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Sunday, December 11th, 2011 at 10:42 AM

Ice Cube on Eames

Hat tip to profhoff for sending this along, from Huffington:

Ice Cube proves to be an apt guide on modern architecture in this Pacific Standard Time video about the Eames architect legends.

He reveals a little known fact about himself: before he became a rapper, he studied architectural drafting. Perhaps that’s why he so eloquently discusses the Eames and their revolutionary contribution to modern architecture. Strolling around the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, he lovingly strokes the windows of the home and later exclaims, “they was doing mash-ups before mash-ups even existed.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Ice Cube said he jumped at the chance to be a part of Pacific Standard Time’s sprawling campaign to promote Southern California art. “What was appealing was showing off Los Angeles to people who think they know what Los Angeles is all about… Everybody who comes here thinks they got the place figured out, but you can never get this place figured out.”

Driving down Inglewood Boulevard in South LA, the rapper also breaks down “the good, the bad and the ugly” about art and architecture in Los Angeles. Things that make his good list: the Forum, 5 Torches, Cockatoo Inn and Watts Towers.

For Ice Cube, the worst thing about LA is the worst thing on everyone’s list: traffic. The 405 is filled with “bougie traffic.” The 110 is “gangsta traffic.” “There’s a difference!” he insists. “You gotta know where you at.”

Ice Cube’s video is the third in a series of artist/performer collaborations for Pacific Standard Time. Check out actor Jason Schwartzman celebrating artist John Balderssari and Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis taking artist Ed Ruscha for a ride.

Watch Ice Cube pay homage to the Eames Home and then check out this Trazzler slideshow of Southern California’s most iconic architecture.

Friday, December 9th, 2011 at 6:51 AM

Sinatra’s Party Pad

From msnbc.com:

If walls could talk, the ones in this 50s-era home would probably be slurring from all the highballs.

Frank Sinatra rented it in his Rat Pack heyday and sublet the guest house to Marilyn Monroe. It was the site of her last photo shoot and allegedly where she met the 35th president for an affair.

If it looks familiar, it may be because you watch TV or movies. It’s been a set in “Dreamgirls,” Usher’s “Burn” video and “Mad Men,” among many others. The latter makes perfect sense since  the whole property is decorated in period motif.

The seller makes the case that you can bring in a couple hundred thousand dollars a year easy just renting it out as a set. That’s not going too far to  offset the $12 million asking price, but you might not need the money.

The 10,000sf estate features 3 lower level private offices with a conference room and has 4 bedrooms with 5.5 baths. There is also a detached gym steps away to the 50-ft. swimming pool, and it has panoramic views and parking for 200 vehicles, making it the ideal abode for hosting large parties and events.

Often referred to as the “great glass mansion,” the home is perched atop its own 14 acre hill and vineyard which overlooks a 3,000 acre nature preserve. 

The mid-century home was completed in 1951 by architects Pereira & Luckman. Sinatra leased the impressive property for much of the 1950’s.

Read more about the property at our partner Forbes here. They also have more pictures here.

1br/1.5ba 1,000sf guest house with own pool

Thursday, December 8th, 2011 at 10:27 PM

Twilight Stars’ Rental

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Twi-hards already have access to the wedding dress Kristen Stewart donned in Breaking Dawn – Part 1, the honeymoon home from the film can be rented by the day, as well as jewelry and other accessories used by the Twilight actors throughout the franchise’s history.

Now, a new piece the Twilight world is up for sale.

The almost half-acre compound the vampire saga’s stars Stewart and Robert Pattinson (who are a real-life couple as well as playing one on the big screen) recently rented is now on the market.

The house, located on Selkirk Lane in L.A.’s Bel-Air neighborhood is listed for nearly $6 million by David Mossler of Teles Properties in Beverly Hills.

Sitting on a private promontory that overlooks Stone Canyon Reservoir, the nearly half-acre gated property boasts both the 2,604-square-foot three-bedroom main house as well as a 1,440-square-foot guest house, a pool, spa and gazebo.

The main building, built in the 1990s, is two levels with hardwood floors in the kitchen, living and dining rooms. A master bedroom, as well as two additional bedrooms and laundry room are located on a lower level. The main living room also opens up to a large terrace that overlooks the nearby canyon and reservoir.

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 10:26 PM

Painted Lady Closed

The Painted Lady closed today – for full price, $499,000 VA. 

We knew that the buyer was fully engaged in the house (just by paying the full pop), but like we saw in Diana’s article, agents and sellers never know if you have a sale until the inspection is completed.  But any hurdles are almost always due to the lousy quality of the inspector – click here for Tom’s humorous comments on the inspection:

http://tomtarrant.com/inspections-and-appraisals/

We’re in the hunt for others – and a few stories in the works!

Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 at 6:10 PM

Wall Street Journal Estate

The Bancrofts are the former owners of the WSJ, and still own the Duke’s old house in RSF too.

This house has 10,651sf on 5.68 acres, listed for $6,995,000 (click here for map):

http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-110062313-6605_La_Valle_Plateada_Rancho_Santa_Fe_CA_92067

Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 9:22 PM

$88,000,000 Listing

From The Real Estalker:

New York-based financier Sandy Weill has already “reached an agreement with an unnamed buyer” to purchase his posh and exceedingly pricey penthouse at 15 Central Park West in New York City.

You’ll recall that Mister and Missus Weill heaved and hoed their Robert A.M. Stern-designed and Mica Ertegun-decorated 6,744 square foot penthouse with its 2,000 square foot-plus wrap around terrace on to the market a few weeks ago with a ball-busting $88,000,000 asking price. Although an agreement has (allegedly) been reached, the as yet unidentified buyer has yet to sign the proper purchase contracts, according to the New York Post, and “appears to be foreign.”

Mister Weill, the former CEO and chairman of Citigroup, has pledged to donate the proceeds of the sale to as yet unidentified charitable organizations.

Monday, November 28th, 2011 at 5:32 PM

British Columbia

 The Armada House in Victoria, BC, Canada.