Thursday, May 8, 2008

Mish Mash Thursday

1.
Let's start with a blind item, because who doesn't love a blind item, right? Besides, both the children and the Chicken Littles need something to discuss and dissect besides the real, imagined and/or hoped for demise of the Los Angeles real estate market...a serious topic that has little to with the silly celebrity subject matter of this blog. Anyhoo, here we go...

What property appreciating billionaire has been whispering to pals that he intends to bid on the soo-blime Neutra designed Kaufmann House in Palm Springs (pictured above) that is scheduled to be auctioned off on May 13 as part of much anticipated Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Sale?

Hint: It's not Eli Broad or Roman Abramovich.

photo: Tim Street Porter

2.
According to the Luxist lovlies, the above mentioned Russian oligarch and property hungry tycoon Roman Abramovich has scooped up an 11 bedroom and 11 bathroom house on Aspen's Wildcat Ridge for a reported $36,375,000 (pictured above). The brazenly and boldly contemporary home was sold by bizness baron Leon Hirsch.

The dramatic residence sits on nearly 200 acres of prime ridge top property, crawls across almost 13,000 square feet of living space and features a folded plate roof and a massive moss rock wall. But it's most impressive feature is surely the 60-well geothermic system that provides cooling in the summer and not only heats the house and swimming pool in the winter, but also heats the driveway, an extravagance affordable to only a few.

The former orphan has a well reported, voracious, and seemingly insatiable appetite for über dee-luxe real estate and in addition to his new house in hoity toity Aspen and others in Moscow, the South of France, Tuscany and Montenegro (to name only a few), Mister Abramovich is reportedly planning to combine two Knightsbridge townhouses into one gigantic eight bedroom and eight floor (three of them underground) mega-manse expected to be worth in excess of £150,000,000 when completed.

That's a staggering $294,384,000 according to Your Mama's bejeweled and bedazzled abacus. Jeezis, Mary and Joseph! Someone fix Your Mama a drink to settle our nerves because we don't even know how to make sense of residential real estate numbers that big.

3.
Your Mama hears that accidental actor Jason Statham, a Brit who fell successfully backwards into acting when he was offered a roll in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, has been sniffing around the 5,411 square foot Devlin Drive digs that was recently foisted on the open market by pop star Christina Aguilera with an asking price of $7,995,000 (pictured above).

4.
Speaking of Guy Ritchie and his formidable fifty year old pop star wifey Madonna–who somehow doesn't look a day over 39–the lovlies at Luxist (via the not always reliable when it comes to real estate gossip tab The Sun) recently snitched that the bi-continental power couple might be looking to unload Ashcombe, their 1,130-acre country estate in Wiltshire (pictured above).

The estate, formerly owned by famed photographer Cecil Beaton, was purchased by the Energizer Bunny-esque material mommy and her film making man in 2001 for a reported £9,000,000. According to The Sun, they are looking to list the 8-bedroom country crib for £12,000,000 because they don't spend enough time at the property to make it worth the expense of running. Just because she's richer than the Pope puppies, that don't mean she's not financially sensible.

In addition to the main house which is said to include his and her gyms (natch) and a huge kitchen, there are several additional cottages on the property.

photo: The Sun

5.
Back in the good ol' U-nited States of America, former CSI: Miami sex pot Khandi Alexander has once again kha-rah-tay chopped the asking price of her towering Hollywood Hills quoin-set hut (pictured above). Originally listed at $4,495,000, the asking price of the four floor, 4,126 square foot and four bedroom khrib on Woodshill Trail was first hacked down to $3,495,000 and was recently sliced and diced again to it's current asking price of $2,995,000, a number most notable due to it being just a hair more than the $2,850,000 records reveal the formidable and now unemployed ladee paid for the house in January of 2006.

6.
Miss Khandi Alexander isn't the only Hollywood type who seems to be having a tough time unloading their house. So are Oscar nominated actress Angela Bassett and her Law and Order actor huzband Courtney Vance. Your Mama discussed their Hancock Park home on guard gated Fremont Place back in July of 2007 when it was listed for $5,999,000.

It has come to Your Mama's recent attention that the asking price for the 4,828 square foot house with it's creamy beige interior is now $4,600,000. Perhaps there just aren't as many rich people in Los Angeles who want or need a private hair salon in their home after all.

7.
Ever since that beleaguered Britney Spears gurl got on the right meds and dumped all those meddlesome men that were hanging around her Bev Hills mansion all the time, Your Mama hasn't heard much about her real estate plans. The formerly pink wigged one remains ensconced in her Mediterranean manse in the guard gated community of The Summit and, as far as we know, she still spends a fortune every month leasing a big house in the guard gated Serra Retreat in Malee-boo.

However, according to E!, the not quite as rich as she used to be pop tartlet and single mommy of two itty bitty boys has gotten itchy feet and was recently spotted touring a 7,350 square foot house on Tara Drive in the exclusive Clark Gable community of Encino that listing information describes at "European inspired."

Who knows if this capricious gurl will actually buy the house, but for what it's worth listing information for the the property shows it measures .87 acres with a newly built house that includes 5 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, which should be plenty for a gurl who lives by her lonesome. It also has a massive motor court, a giant living room with vaulted ceilings, indoor and outdoor dining rooms, a Tara worthy spiral staircase in the entrance hall, a well equipped kitchen, a large pool, spa with nearby fire pit and fountains. Let's not forget the fountains.

As was noted by the good people at E!, Miss Spears, who is reported to be subjected to a weekly allowance of $1,500, will need the permission of her conservator/father Jamie Spears in order to make a purchase of this size.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you get us pictures of Romans other properties ? I hear they are amazing.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

That is Roman Abramovich

I believe that you one of the very few on this earth that has the capability and resources to bring that to us.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

1. David Geffen?

2. Lets hope all the Russians are heading to Aspen, packing up & giving Courchevel 1850 back to the Europeans! They've utterly wrecked one of the best skiing resorts in the world! Abramovich has owned numerous apartments on Lowndes Sq for the past few years - obviously he had a masterplan right from the start. Very close to his ex-wife too!

4. '5 acre' - Madonnas Wiltshire property is in excess of a 1000 acres, hence, the $24M price tag.

7. Is Britneys rental Serra Retreat? I thought it was out at Point Dume?

Anonymous said...

Britney also toured a house in the Oaks of Calabasas last week.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Mama, one look at Madge's house makes me want to rummage through my Evelyn Waugh books and read Brideshead Revisited again. So evocative of a world that tried to be but never was. Ahhh, yes, light a fire Carruthers and bring my reading glasses.

Anonymous said...

I thought Britneys mansion was in the Summit not Mulholland Estates?

Anonymous said...

Here is an address to Roman's Antibes villa "Chateau de la Croe" formerly owned by the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor, and Stavros Niarkos.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=r7qy9yhkv12h&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=10976411&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Here is another of his palaces, this one floating..... "Ecstasea" She is the smaller of the two largest yachts, the other being German billionairess Heidi Horton's. This isn't his largest, but it is the fastest. The large circular opening in the transom is the discharge from the water jet coupled to a gas turbine. For those of you who didn't study Marine Engineering, it's jet propelled!!!

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=r7xzd2hktrxr&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=10975489&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Parker said...

My friend looked at Angela Bassett's home and she said it was awful, that it looked like someone had raided Home Depot. Pretty disappointing for a Fremont Place home.

Your Mama said...

Listen my little chicakdees. Your Mama made a few errors pre-caffeine. We've fixed them and thanks for your respectful requests for corrections.

Anonymous said...

You got it, Aunt Mary.

However, I always find these manor houses odd looking from the exterior, because I always want windows where there aren't any, and too many grouped in weird places and shapes. I know it's all to do with corridors, pantries, grand staircase halls, etc... Still, it annoys me.

Speaking of annoyed, the Bassett/Vance house has far too fussy an approach for such a dull house.

That Kaufmann house, though, come to daddy.

pch said...

If you're gonna do a porte-cochère, that one at the Abramovich house in Aspen is the way to to go. Hot damn.

Anonymous said...

PCH, It reminds me of that house on the southeast corner of Whittier and Sunset.

Anonymous said...

I just pooped in my cage!

lil' gay boy said...

Aunt Mary, PCH, Bentley,

I'm with you on all points - I can appreciate the charm of old world Wiltshire (the old fenestration being a sometimes reliable hallmark of a pedigreed property added to over the ages), the classic modernism of the Kaufmann house, and the surprising appeal of the Aspen residence.

Anyone know of any interior pics?

;-)

Anonymous said...

The Aspen house lgb? It was for sale a few years back - actually around the same price - It was built by a N.Y architect firm & they had loads of pics on their website but I can't recall what firm it was.

Anonymous said...

God I'm good!

http://www.voorsanger.com/

Anyone interested in the Aspen property take a peek ...

Anonymous said...

^

Ha! Having clicked on the 'Luxist' link all the information is already there! Clearly I'm not as good as I thought!

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for the Antibes villa link. That whole area along the sea is mind boggling. I never knew such wealth existed.

Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Brittany should stay at the Summit location. She needs to live in a gated community with private streets. Otherwise, the paparazzi
and kooks will park in front of her house 24/7. The Summit and LAPD has done a good job of keeping them away from the entrance.

StPaulSnowman said...

Interesting that the Neutra Kaufman house has all of the planes and cantilevers but none of the soul of the house,Frank Lloyd Wright built for another Kauffman..... Falling Water. The more contemporary house is like a rebar skeleton of the much more organic, fleshed out in concrete, Wright masterwork.

pch said...

That inverted pyramid, 11:28? Muy cool.

Funny, Snowman, but I much prefer the Palm Springs house to Falling Water. Of course, I prefer Neutra to Wright. I thought both were built for Edgar Kaufmann Sr, but maybe I'm wrong.

StPaulSnowman said...

PCH, you know, I can understand your preference but I think both fit into their distinct surroundings brillantly and I like sylvan better than desert. I enjoyed your comment.

pch said...

Well, there you have it :)

Anonymous said...

The Angela Bassett & Khandi houses were both severely overpriced to begin with... I've been inside both, and the floor plans (not so much the Bassett) and the decorations are near horrendous.

The Bassett one looks charming, but inside it puts off a cheap stuffy feel with the wallpaper, paint and vibes. It could be amazing though...

these homes do not describe a housing market decline because neither of them are very desirable...

Anonymous said...

PCH - You are correct. Both Kaufmann houses were built for Edgar Sr.

Although I have never been to Fallingwater and am sure it is wonderful, I too prefer the desert house.

Stpaulsnowman - The desert house is not as cold and skeletal as it may appear in photos. It is actually very warm and relaxed.

I also agree with whomever guessed David Geffen.

Anonymous said...

There is a Virtual Tour of the Britney HouseHERE

Beautiful home/area i must say. The driveway is pretty far up off of the main street.

Anonymous said...

My first thought was Larry Ellison for the Kaufmann house but David Geffen sounds like a good guess too.

StPaulSnowman said...

Thanks for the information. I did not realize it was the same Kaufman. In "FLW Letters to Clients" there is a fascinating exchange of letters between Wright and Kaufmann that is well worth the read. I somehow thought that the Palm Springs house was much more recent and for another Kaufmann. Now I know better. Thanks!

lil' gay boy said...

StPaulSnowman,

You might also be interested to know the FLLW tried to steal the commission for the Palm Springs house by designing his own for the site - called "The Boulder House". He wisely approached Mrs. Kaufmann with it first, but, although she preferred it to the Neutra house, Edgar Sr. went with the Neutra design, even though his son had been a student of Wright's at Taliesin.

Based on concentric circles, a model of the house project was sold on ebay a while back, having been found in someone's attic . . .

You can find it in almost any book on FLLW's sketches.

Saw the interior shots of the Aspen house - nice; and of course you can find the Kaufmann interiors anywhere. Any pics of the other interiors?

As Mama would say, "Buehler? Buehler? Anyone?"

Anonymous said...

It's coming it's coming

this is to shocking to comprehend

“They really weren’t building homes, they were building mortgages that they could put in to their investors or lenders to put into mortgage-backed securities and in turn sell them to investors in China, France, other parts of this country"

- Jay Butler, professor of real estate at Arizona State, finally realize that an epic, historic and corrupt housing Ponzi Scheme took place under his nose, May 2008

Alessandra said...

As long as Britney Spears still has two nickels to rub together, there's no reason to fear for Los Angeles real estate.

Love the porte-cochere for the Aspen house. It is quite striking.

Madge has decent taste in real estate. You can't take that away from her. Of course, I see Ashcombe and I think of fox hunting parties, wellies, Range Rovers and good Scotch. And maybe some Agatha Christie thrown in for good measure.

Anonymous said...

And there's not a darn thing wrong with any of that, is there? Except the fox hunting, which is such s silly waste of time.

As long as her real estate agent does the driving between properties :)

Anonymous said...

Video and photos of Kaufmann House -

http://www.christies.com/special_sites/kaufmann_house/video.asp

StPaulSnowman said...

I wonder what color Madge's Aga is.........

StPaulSnowman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Great houses, I like especially the first one. As I am working as a Toronto realtor I am just jealous about houses in US. It would be my dream to sell houses like these ones. Unfortunately even if you are a famous realtor it is impossible here in Canada. Not such a property and not even demand for new ones.

lil' gay boy said...

Speaking of mish mash, anyone know the current status of Hillandale, the $95M estate of Liberty Travel co-founder Gilbert Haroche?

Anonymous said...

I love this house.