Built in the 1930s, its current owners hope to challenge the 'slow' Los Angeles real estate market Photo: Berlin Photography 2019/Westside Estate Agency
This feeling is familiar to many parents. The children have scattered, and suddenly the family home seems too big for two.
And that's why Gary Winnick and his wife Karen decided to cut it. But unlike most couples, 60 rooms was too much for the Vinnicks.
They have now listed their Bel Air mansion, known as Casa Encantada, for an asking price of $250 million. 196 million), which puts this house on the path to breaking the record for the most expensive home ever sold in the US.
Of 60 rooms, 20 are occupied by the large staff needed to maintain a wealthy home that also has a golf course .
In addition, there are three kitchens, a games room, bars, and, befitting a property less than 10 miles from Hollywood, a movie theater.
The original owners hired 40 people to maintain the luxurious estate. Photo: Berlin Photography 2019/Westside Estate Agency
In the basement there are silver, fur and wine cellars. Several rooms are paneled in rare woods, including English sycamore and black walnut.
No expense has been spared in the art collection, which includes 18th-century French paintings and a range of works by respected American artists, including Edward. Hopper.
There is a George Washington painting in the living room, apparently commissioned by Benjamin Franklin.
There is also a piano made by Blüthner, a respected German company founded before the mid-19th century, which when Stephen Sondheim played.
Outside, there's a floodlit tennis court, a basketball court with galleries for spectators, a rose garden, and koi ponds.
The furniture was designed by British designer T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings. Photo: Berlin Photography 2019/Westside Estate Agency
The house first broke the record for the most expensive sale in 1950 and did it again in 2000 when it was bought by Mr. Winnika for $94 million.
75- the year-old man made his fortune with a company that built a global fiber optic network while previously working on Wall Street.
The reconstruction of his house took two and a half years with the participation of 250 workers. website daily, according to The Wall Street Journal.
40,000 sq. feet and its vast grounds require careful maintenance, which reportedly prompted Winnick and his writer wife to look for slightly more modest housing. .
One can only guess how easy it will be to get the asking price, given that the current luxury home market in Los Angeles has been described by industry experts as “sluggish”.
But exceptional properties continue to sell for exceptional prices.
Just recently, Jay-Z and Beyoncé paid $200m (£157.5m) for an architect-designed property in Malibu.
The mansion's architect described it as “modern Georgian with Greek influences.” Photo: Berlin Photography 2019/Westside Estate Agency
The house was built in the mid-1930s on a 9.5-acre hilltop property.
It was commissioned by Hilda Olsen Boldt. Weber, a New York hospital nurse and widow of Cincinnati glassmaker Charles Boldt.
The couple moved to California, where they were shunned by Ohio movers.
Mr. Boldt died. in 1929, leaving his vast fortune to his wife.
The $100,000 price paid for the land in 1934 was considered astonishing, given that other large estates at the time remained unsold during the depression.
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According to historian Jeff Hyland, “She wanted to make an important statement. and take what she considered her rightful place in Los Angeles society.”
This obviously required a “splendid new estate.”
The house was built in 1938 and cost $2 million. build. At its peak, the house employed 40 people, including many gardeners who maintained the manicured grounds.
Ms. Weber put the house up for sale in 1948. Potential buyers included Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer and newspaper giant William Randolph Hearst.
It was eventually bought by Conrad Hilton in 1950. After his death in 1979, it was sold for a US record price of $12.4 million.
Mr. Winnick negotiated his $94 million bid over breakfast with then-owner, financier David Murdoch.
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Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency and Drew Fenton of Carolwood Estates are listing agents.
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