Thursday, January 12, 2012

Your Mama Hears...

...from a well-informed informant, let's call her Candy Dancer, that the massive Beverly Hills, CA crib owned by French-born denim tycoon turned L.A. real estate mogul turned Canadian hotelier Georges Marciano is about to hit the market with an asking price of around $32,000,0000.

Mister Marciano, for any of y'all who may not know, is a colorful character to be sure, one who lives unapologetically large. He and his three brothers founded the Guess? jeans empire that launched into the retail stratosphere in the 1990s with its long and lucrative association with bodacious, deeply troubled and now deceased model Anna Nicole Smith. he sold his 40 percent stake in the wildly successful clothing empire to his brothers Paul, Armand and Maurice for nearly a quarter billion dollars. He took his mountain of money and branched out into real estate development, amassed a fleet of Ferraris, spent $16,189,769 to purchase an 84.37-carat white diamond, made strange run for the governorship of California and opened the LHotel boo-teek hotel in Old Montreal–that's Canada kids–filled to the gills with prime pieces of his massive post-war art collection.

In 2007 Mister Marciano accused five former employees of conspiring to embezzle nearly half a billion bucks worth of his assets including a plethora of blue chip contemporary artworks by artists like Ed Ruscha, Jim Dine and Roy Lichtenstein. The case was tossed out but the five former employees counter-sued for defamation and in mid-2009 won a titanic $370,000,000 judgment against Mister Marciano for his wrongful allegations and accusations.

Property records show Mister Marciano acquired the stately estate in October 1988 for an unknown amount of money and Your Mama discussed the supremely located, 2-plus acre estate back in January 2007 when Mister Marciano unsuccessfully attempted to unload his humongous Italianate pile just up the street from the Beverly Hills Hotel with a much lower asking price of $28,000,000. We'll let the more savvy real estate children decide if the current marketplace for extremely swank high-maintenance estates in Los Angeles can bear the four million dollar bump to the price tag.

Since the house is not officially on the market–and since, technically, its just real estate rumor and gossip that it will be listed at all–no online listing is currently available. However, we managed to scare up some marketing materials from when it was on the open market in 2007. (Redfin shows the deluxe estate was also listed in 2005 but we don't know at what number.)

The Los Angeles County Tax Man shows the double-gated mansion was built in 1927 and measures 14,055 square feet with 9 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms while 2007 listing information shows and approximate square footage of 23,306 with a total of 10 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms. We're not sure why the wild discrepancies in stats but it may (or may not) have something to do with the u-shaped mini-mansion sized detached guest house with separate gated driveway and motor court tucked into eastern corner of the property between the swimming pool complex and lighted tennis court.

The house was once owned by Showbiz pioneer and pasha Harry Cohn and later, in the early to mid-1980s, we're told, by television talk show host Mike Douglas. Current nearby neighbors include real estate showboaters Stewart and Lynda Resnick, Tom Cruise, and Christina Aguilera and former residents of the hoity-toity 'hood include recently passed über-agent blue-eyed crooner Frank Sinatra, Sue Mengers, entertainment industry legend Lew Wasserman, cigar smoker Groucho Marx, diminutive superstar Tom Cruise, chat show host Phil McGraw, and airplane mogul Lou Gonda.

aerial photo: Google

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would not want to live in this home. Anyone who can accuse their employees falsy (obviously by the shear size of the judgement) certainly is not going to have a happy home.

Anonymous said...

This place was also on the market for $28million back in 2004-2005, and didn't even sell then back when the market was hot, which makes me wonder what's wrong with it; it looks okay on the surface, but for such a legendary property in such a good location to not have sold for what could arguably be considered to have been a fair price during the height of the boom market, seems like there might be problems lurking underneath the surface...

Anonymous said...

11:55 So you think Marciano's false accusation has somehow become embedded in the house? Fascinating. I presume this sale has something to do with his bankruptcy. Anyone know what is going on with that?

Anonymous said...

Can you feature the burnt luxury automobiles and scorched carports of celbrities in Hollywood?
As a fan i would like to have a "star
guide" to arson with which I could click some photos for my collection.

Anonymous said...

chickadees a judgement doesnt guarantee a payment.. you then gotta go out and collect it..

midTN said...

Anon. 3:20 PM...

Maybe the ghost of Harry Cohn is still lurking underneath the surface. He had a very "strong" personality, to say the least. He was extremely possesive of HIS stars, studio, and all he owned. Not very well liked either.

In fact, at the time of his death, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper was widely quoted as saying, "you had to stand in line to hate him".
***

Anonymous said...

@9:36 I don't know if you're kidding or not. You might find a Ferrari owner's directory, the way those things catch on fire there must be at least one celeb with a torched Dino.

As for this house. Meh!

Anonymous said...

5:36 Oh definately! Bad joojoo will linger here for a long long time after this man leaves, and previous owners as well. This theory is possibly made stronger by the comments of 3:20 and 3:43. As Justin T sang "what goes around comes back around"...

Anonymous said...

oh la la morning coffee and delights. This house is truly stunning, but there is an odd perhaps 80s addition on the back left side (Facing from front) that has a 2nd kitchen suite and open family area. This architectural no no would have to be fixed but easy enough for this glorious home. Negatives are lack of privacy and star vans going by each 5 min.

This home is for the truly self consumed person and not someone who wants to be discreet about their cash.

Anonymous said...

If I'm not mistaken, this was designed by Robert D. Farquhar.

angie said...

A $370 Million judgement is ludicrous regarding a private matter between private individuals. I'm getting exasperated, wondering yet again where the increasing ridiculousness of modern thinking is ultimately headed.

Anonymous said...

I really like the house. Inside is amazing, the grounds are very nice. There are some views. I was surprised it didn't sell a few years ago. Trophy property with character and you can walk to the coffee shop. I love the place and if I had the money would buy it in a second.

bobby trendy said...

thats a lot of money!

Latest Bollywood News said...

I really like the house. Inside is amazing, the grounds are very nice. There are some views. I was surprised it didn't sell a few years ago. Trophy property with character and you can walk to the coffee shop. I love the place and if I had the money would buy it in a second.

Carla Ridge said...

Good eye, Anon 6:54; you are certainly NOT mistaken. In fact, the house is almost identical to the manse Farquhar designed on South Carolwood Drive in Holmby Hills now known as Owlwood, one of the running themes in Michael Gross' book "Unreal Estate". Basically the same floor plan and decorative touches, though each has been slightly remodeled -- this one more than that one, however. And yes, Mike Douglas owned it in the '70s.