Raphael Stevens
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The Lavish Mansion That Starred in Notorious BIG’s ‘Big Poppa’ Music Video Can Be Yours for $14 Million
A sprawling compound with an extensive filming resume on Long Island’s North Shore has just hit the market, offering music fans the opportunity to own an iconic piece of rap history. Known as Bellavista, the property sits on a whopping 16 acres in New York’s affluent Old Westbury suburb, which Bloomberg counts as being the 18th richest zip code in the entire United States.
Central to both Manhattan and The Hamptons, the estate is located about 25 miles east of the former and 70 miles west of the latter. And, as the listing notes, there’s plenty of room for a helipad to be built on the premises for those seeking a quicker commute to either.
Initially constructed as an Amish farm in 1868, the secluded site makes for quite the unique buy. The spacious grounds not only boast a 9,415-square-foot main residence that stands on a gated four acres but a fully operational 12-acre equestrian village with expansive lawns that includes seven legal cottages, as well! Considering the potential rental, riding and, of course, filming revenue, the listing represents an extraordinary opportunity to purchase a property with an abundance of built-in passive income – not to mention the set from an epochal music video. It was at the estate back in 1995 that The Notorious B.I.G. shot the famed video for “Big Poppa,” the groundbreaking second single from his premiere studio album, “Ready to Die.”
A trophy property in every sense, the compound is being offered by Kristin Thomas of Compass for $13.9 million.
The lush entryway and roundabout.
Tyler Sands
Mediterranean in style, the handsome main residence contains seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms (six full, three half) spread across two floors. There is also a partially-finished 4,533-square-foot basement level with a dressing room, a fireplace, a nearly 300-square-foot cedar closet, multiple storage spaces and ten-foot ceilings.
The bright and spacious home entrance.
Spotless Agency
According to listing information, “The main house is reminiscent of European enclaves from Spain and Greece, constructed with solid white stone and terra cotta roof. It was built in 1988 throughout a four-year ‘labor of love’ construction, flying in artisans and masters from Europe as well as highly respected Manhattan designers to create a dream house sparing no expense. Every inch was created with the highest level of quality, materials, and design. Today, it presents a buyer with an opportunity to bring their own vision to life, reimagining the finishes with more contemporary style throughout the smartly laid out floor plan.” As such, visual renderings of possible new design schematics have been provided by Compass, including the above of the entry foyer, where guests are currently welcomed via a dramatic space capped by a 36-foot ceiling with a sunroof. Standing opposite the front doors is a grand bifurcated staircase complete with a balcony overlooking the expansive room. The remainder of the mansion features ten-foot ceilings throughout.
The massive dining room with floor to ceiling windows.
Spotless Agency
Amenities are plentiful at the estate. With boiserie and millwork galore, an impressive five fireplaces, four balconies, a formal dining room and a gym, the manse is not short on creature comforts or space.
The updated kitchen with wooden floors and beams.
Spotless Agency
Rounding out the living spaces are a den that opens to a wisteria-covered patio, formal living and family rooms (both with fireplaces) and a chef’s kitchen that is bigger than most New York apartments! An epicure’s delight, the cavernous space (pictured in a rendering above) currently features a granite island and countertops, oversized fridge and massive breakfast nook surrounded by a smattering of arched windows.
The backyard pool amongst florals and cropped hedges.
Tyler Sands
To the rear of the mansion is a 96-gallon swimming pool and attached jacuzzi, flanked by an outdoor kitchen and mature foliage of every size, shape and vibrant color. The grounds are bucolic and serene and, some might even say, hypnotizing.
One of the outbuilding on the property.
Tyler Sands
The charming Colonial-style equestrian village consists of myriad outbuildings including two barns, stables housing 29 stalls, two garages and six paddocks, most of which are original to the 1868 farm.
A clip from the ‘Big Poppa’ music video.
Bad Boy Records
The unique and extensive landscape provides ample backdrops and vistas for filming and, as such, the property has been a location manager favorite, appearing in more than 100 productions including movies, television shows, commercials and music videos.
The stunning bathroom where ‘Big Poppa’ scenes were filmed.
Tyler Sands
The Notorious B.I.G. and Bad Boy Records exec Sean “Diddy” Combs headed to the estate to shoot “Big Poppa” – more specifically to the property’s ornate main bathroom. It is while sitting in the massive tub, with its gilded swan-shaped faucets, amidst a trio of women and bubbles of both the champagne and soap variety, that Combs asks, “How you living Biggie Smalls?”, and he responds in his signature flow, “In mansion and Benzes, giving ends to my friends and it feels stupendous.” Indeed, taking a dip in that tub on a regular basis would feel stupendous.
A screen capture of the entrance steps in the ‘Warning’ video.
Bad Boy Records
Biggie and Combs also shot the video for “Warning” at the estate, with the latter taking up residence once again in the bathtub of the owners’ suite for the shoot. The rest of the mansion, including the foyer, appeared extensively in the video, as well.
An outside shot of the Bellavista in a Junior M.A.F.I.A video.
Big Beat
Biggie Smalls proved to be a B.I.G. fan of the property because he also filmed the video for Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Player’s Anthem” there, along with Lil’ Kim and Lil’ Cease.
A clip of Kool G Rap in the marble tub within the manse.
Cold Chillin’/Epic Street
Additionally, Kool G Rap made use of the main bathtub in his “Fast Life” music video. Talk about a famous tub!
A view of the property in the 1998 action film “Scarred City.”
Alchemy
Bellavista played the home of Raphael Soto (Lou Cantres) in the 1998 action film “Scarred City” (also known as “Scar City”).
The entrance gates seen in a 2008 commercial starring Martha Stewart and Jim McCann.
1-800-Flowers
In 2008, the manse’s front gate was used in a 1-800-Flowers commercial starring Martha Stewart and Jim McCann.
A night shot of the mansion in the Martin Scorsese/Mick Jagger-created series “Vinyl.”
Warner Bros. Television Studios
It popped up as the residence of radio station owner Frank ‘Buck’ Rogers (Andrew Dice Clay) in the pilot episode of the Martin Scorsese/Mick Jagger-created series “Vinyl,” which aired in 2016.
An elaborately detailed scene from tv series, Madam Secretary within the mansion.
CBS Media Ventures
And it portrayed a couple of different spots in the season three episode of “Madam Secretary” titled “The Detour,” including the Dakar, Senegal palace where Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) met with President Babacar Diome (Afemo Omilami), as well as Le Musée Togolais d’Art et dHistoire in Lomé, Togo, which Elizabeth and her team toured. More
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Sugar Ray Leonard’s Secluded LA Mansion Hits the Market for $46.5 Million
Ray Charles Leonard, better known as “Sugar” Ray Leonard and often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, is parting ways with his old Los Angeles digs for $46.5 million. Unfortunately, a training ring doesn’t come with the property, but the Palisades estate has plenty of other amenities that will likely appeal to potential buyers.
First and foremost, you’ll get plenty of space, as the 16,700-square-foot main home sits on a 1.7-acre lot. That sprawling interior space has much to do with the home’s architect, Richard Landry, known as the king of the megamansion for creating massive projects for the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Mark Wahlberg.
The pool.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
The primary residence has seven bedrooms, and there’s an additional guest house on the property for friends or family who want to stay the night. The buildings on the grounds were designed to emulate the look and feel of an Italian villa.
And while the home doesn’t come with any boxing-related perks, there are still many different venues for exercising, including a tennis court and a pool—plus a putting green where you can practice your swing.The tennis court.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
Above all, the estate is very private. It’s at the end of a long, gated driveway, with surrounding hedges providing an additional layer of quiet and seclusion.
That all begs the question: Why is Leonard parting with the place? According to The Wall Street Journal, he and his wife, Bern Leonard, are now empty nesters and therefore looking to downsize from their palatial digs. The couple had previously listed the home for about $52 million in late 2019 but took it off the market shortly after.The entryway.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
Of course, while they may be looking for a slightly less gargantuan residence to call home, if you’ve been on the hunt for a megamansion designed by one of the most sought-after architects in the category, then look no further.
Check out more photos of the estate below:The dining room.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
The living room.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
One of the bedrooms.
Photo: Jim Bartsch More
- in Luxury
A Former Google CEO Just Bought Barron Hilton’s LA Estate at a $13.5 Million Discount
Just five months after it first popped up for sale with a blistering $75 million ask, L.A.’s so-called Jay Paley Residence—a historic 1930s manor designed by pioneering Black architect Paul R. Williams for the founder of CBS—has sold for a discounted but $61.5 million, a still eye-popping amount that ranks as 2021’s second-biggest California home sale thus far, behind only the $87 million paid by tech tycoon Jan Koum for his next-door neighbor’s Malibu home in February.
Records confirm that the property’s mystery buyer is Eric Schmidt, the Silicon Valley-based multibillionaire ex-Google CEO and tech titan with a very well known proclivity for acquiring some of America’s finest trophy homes. Schmidt bought the 2.6-acre spread from the estate of hotel heir William Barron Hilton, who died of natural causes on the premises back in September 2019. Hilton lived in the mansion for nearly 60 years, having purchased it in the early 1960s at a reported cost of just $475,000; the New York Post notes that the house served as the setting for his granddaughter Paris Hilton’s 2000 Vanity Fair photoshoot, which she now refers to as “iconic” and instrumental to launching her career.
One of several living rooms on the estate.
Photo: Courtesy of Hilton and Hyland
Although the Jay Paley Residence is technically located in Holmby Hills, the house actually sits at a very desirable crossroads where the exclusive neighborhoods of Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Holmby Hills and Benedict Canyon all converge. Naturally, the vaguely AR-15-shaped mansion is not visible from the street, and the property is hidden behind iron gates, a hedge wall, and a notably long driveway that spills into a massive motor court ringed by liquid amber trees.
The listing was held by Rick Hilton and Barron Hilton of Hilton & Hyland; Linda May, also of Hilton & Hyland, repped Schmidt.
Described in the listing as a “rare and stellar interpretation of traditional English Georgian architecture,” the elegant mansion features dozens of rooms, including 13 bedrooms and 14.5 bathrooms. The property’s grounds include rigidly geometric expanses of lawn, formal gardens, and a forest’s worth of mature specimen trees.
In addition to the main mansion, the estate includes attached staff and guest wings discreetly located out of view from the main entry; there’s also a separate motor court and driveway for staff and service vendors. All of the home’s public rooms are categorically grand, with elaborate decorative moldings. There’s a formal dining room with stunning parquet wood floors and wood-paneled walls, a fireplace-equipped step-down living room, a relatively intimate den, and a separate billiards room.Outdoor dining spaces once hosted Hilton’s fabulous parties.
Photo: Courtesy of Hilton and Hyland
Somewhere lies a commercial-grade kitchen capable of catering gala-style events, and an 80-seat home theater is also part of the residential package. A sinuously curved staircase overlooked by a Kia-sized crystal chandelier leads to the upper level, where there are two master suites—each of them with a boutique-style closet, marble baths, and views of the lush grounds.
In the backyard, al fresco dining loggias accented by delicately thin columns overlook the vast grounds, including the rectangular lawn that’s big enough for multiple croquet games. Perhaps the property’s most legendary feature is the colorful “Zodiac” swimming pool, original to the house, which incorporates all 12 signs of the zodiac into tiles arranged in a sunburst pattern. Elsewhere on the grounds are reflecting pools and a koi pond.
There’s also a lighted tennis court with viewing pavilion. The lavish compound is surrounded by some of the priciest homes in California, just a quick skip up the road from the Jack Warner estate, purchased by Jeff Bezos last year for a record $165 millionOne of the relaxing public rooms with a fireplace.
Photo: Courtesy of Hilton and Hyland
Astute real estate watchers will recall that it was only last summer when Eric Schmidt and his longtime wife Wendy dropped a whopping $30.8 million for one of Santa Barbara’s most extraordinary estates, the so-called “Villa Solana.”
Some of Schmidt’s other homes in his vast array of trophy properties include a $20 million Montecito compound, purchased from Ellen DeGeneres in 2007; a $15 million Manhattan penthouse; a waterfront property on Miami Beach; and a spectacular mansion in Nantucket. But his primary residence has long been the posh Silicon Valley town of Atherton, Calif., where he owns a multi-structure compound worth tens of millions.
Of course, it’s also worth noting that the Jay Paley Residence is not Schmidt’s only Holmby Hills estate; back in 2014, he paid the family of actor Gregory Peck $22 million for a French chateau-style mansion that has since undergone a renovation. More
