Raphael Stevens

More stories

  • 188 Shares189 Views

    in Luxury

    Home of the Week: Gene Simmons’s $22 Million LA Mansion Was Made for Lovin’ You

    Tongue-wagging rock legend Gene Simmons is kissing goodbye the Beverly Hills mansion he’s owned for 36 years. After paying $1.34 million for the property back in 1984, it’s now on the market for $22 million.
    Why sell? It seems Simmons, 71, and his actress and model wife, Shannon Tweed Simmons, are relocating to tax-free Washington State to escape what Simmons calls California’s “unacceptable” taxes.

    They’re giving up their stately 16,000-square-foot, three-story European-style home in the celebrity enclave of Benedict Canyon, to move to a 24-acre estate the couple owns close to Washington State’s Mount Rainer.

    When they originally bought the 1.84-acre hilltop property in Los Angeles, it came with just a rustic ranch home. They proceeded to spend five years and a reported $12 million replacing it with this majestic, though decidedly un-rock-star-looking home completed in 2000.
    Simmons’ Beverly Hills estate has a pool with waterslide and a tennis court.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    Extensively featured on the long-running A&E reality series Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the home has seven bedrooms, seven baths, a pro-size tennis court, a pool with a 60-foot water slide and parking for 30-plus cars.
    But prospective buyers might have to imagine what three of the bedrooms could look like. That’s because right now they’re being used to house the fire-breathing rocker’s mind-blowing collection of KISS memorabilia. They are jam-packed with everything from music awards and KISS-branded pinball machines to guitars and an endless array of KISS toys and figurines.
    The grand foyer.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    In a YouTube video on the collection, Simmons boasts: “We have more than 5,000 licensed products. Everything from KISS condoms to KISS caskets.” Sadly, for KISS fans, the collection is not included in the sale.
    One of the best-selling rock bands of all time, the group was founded by Simmons and guitarist Paul Stanley in the early 1970s. Since then, the rockers, known for their outrageous makeup and pyrotechnic stage shows, have sold more than 75 million albums.
    A 40-foot window marks the entryway.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    To reach the house, imposing security gates open from snaking Benedict Canyon Drive to a wide driveway and up to a huge circular motor court and a trio of garages.
    With towering hedgerows on three sides and a densely wooded area directly behind the home, the compound is well-hidden from prying eyes—and what Simmons has described as “buses with well-meaning tourists from Sandusky, Ohio.”

    The living room.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    Grand sweeping steps on either side of the garages lead up to the home’s imposing twin front doors. The foyer has a showpiece 40-foot-high window and a sweeping staircase topped by a gorgeous glass-domed ceiling
    The huge open-concept living room features Simmons’ grand piano, a cozy fireplace and big, overstuffed sofas, one of which is an unusual back-to-back design.
    The kitchen.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    Having raised two kids at the home—comic book creator Nick Simmons is now 31; sister Sophie, 28, is an actor and singer—the open-plan kitchen is truly family-sized. Simple in design, it features white country-cottage cabinets, wood floors and marble countertops.
    Upstairs, the primary suite with its vaulted ceiling is unpretentious, with its simple furniture, wide-planked floor and arched doorways. A rock star’s retreat it’s not.
    The dining room.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    Outside, the surprisingly small pool area is shielded by towering trees and includes a rustic, stone patio and stone-edged spa.
    Israeli-born Simmons, estimated by Money Inc. to be worth about $300 million, is showing his commitment to quitting California by recently listing yet another home he owns, this one in LA’s Laurel Canyon.
    The primary bedroom.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    Listed in August for $2.2 million, the unassuming, split-level 2,345-square-foot house has breathtaking views of the Los Angeles skyline and the Santa Monica Mountains all the way to the Pacific. It is now priced at $1.99 million.
    As for the Benedict Canyon compound, it’s on the market with Million Dollar Listing stars Matt and Josh Altman of The Altman Brothers and Douglas Elliman.
    The patio and pool.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    Another of the home’s seven bedrooms.  Photo: Christopher Amitrano

    The motor court.  Christopher Amitrano More

  • 113 Shares109 Views

    in Luxury

    Gene Simmons Selling Beverly Hills Home For $22 Million

    Front Exterior

    LOCATION: 2650 Benedict Canyon Drive, Beverly Hills, California
    SQUARE FOOTAGE: 16,000
    BEDROOMS & BATHROOMS: 7 bedrooms & 9 bathrooms
    PRICE: $22,000,000
    Gene Simmons, the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, has just listed his Beverly Hills home for $22 million.

    Located at 2650 Benedict Canyon Drive, the home was built in 2000 and is situated on nearly 2 acres of land. It features approximately 16,000 square feet of living space with 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, 2-story foyer with staircase, 2-story great room, formal dining room, gourmet kitchen, breakfast room, family room, garage and more.
    Outdoor features include a gated entrance, balconies, patios, swimming pool with spa & 60′ water slide and a tennis court. More

  • 138 Shares199 Views

    in Luxury

    Toni Morrison’s Book-Filled Manhattan Loft Hits the Market for $4.75 Million

    Size: 2,319 square feet, 2-3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms
    Year: 1901
    Architect: Henry Janeway Hardenbergh

    Not all artists and/or intellectuals are starving. Case in point is the lower Manhattan loft of late literary lion Toni Morrison that’s come for sale just over a year after her passing, in August 2019 at 88, with an asking price of $4.75 million. The Nobel Prize winning writer and university professor, whose Pulitzer Prize winning 1987 novel “Beloved” was adapted into a 1998 film of the same name starring Oprah Winfrey, purchased the slightly more than 2,300-square-foot tenth-floor spread, according to tax records, in the early days of 2014 for $3.8 million.
    The loft’s clean-lined and carefully unadorned architecture is softened with gently worn antiques, plush upholstered sofas, an eclectic smattering of artworks and, of course, books, lots and lots of books. The comfortably commodious main living space stretches forty feet from end to end. Just off the main entrance, the kitchen anchors one end of the space, while the other end has a simply designed fireplace as its focal point. The convivial center of the room holds a trestle-style dining table and book-filled bookshelves extend from floor to ceiling. One of the two guest bedrooms was opened up to the living room, and served as Morrison’s library and writing room, while the primary bedroom offers open city views to the north and east, plus a spacious walk-in closet/dressing area and a bathroom with both a deep soaking tub and a glass enclosed shower.
    A glimpse into the home’s airy bedroom.  Brown Harris Stevens

    Built at the turn of the 20th century and known as the Textile Building, the grandiosely embellished Neo-classical building was originally designed as a commercial structure by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, whose other more legendary handiwork includes the Plaza Hotel and the The Dakota apartment house. Restored and refurbished by architects Karl Fischer and Alan Ritchie, and converted to residences in 2001, the full-service, pet-friendly boutique building offers residents a 24-hour attended lobby, a package room with cold storage for grocery deliveries, a fitness center, a library/media room with full kitchen and wet bar, and a 5,000-square-foot landscaped roof terrace. Of course, residents pay dearly for the plethora of premium services; Morrison’s unit carries monthly maintenance charges of $2,350, plus another $2,500-or-so per month in property taxes, according to listings held by Brown Harris Stevens agents Amanda S. Brainerd, Simone Mailman and Gerard Ryan.
    Morrison, who once kept a historic Colonial-style home in Princeton, N.J., where at the time of her passing she served as the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, at Princeton University, previously owned a duplex apartment at the renowned Police Building on the frenetic border between Soho and Chinatown. Tax records show the “Song of Solomon” author sold the top-floor one-bedroom and 1.5-bath aerie in 2012 to businessman Dane Neller who combined it with a neighboring unit before he flipped the whole kit-and-kaboodle in 2013 for $4.3 million.
    Morrison’s real estate legacy is, however, not so much tied to lower Manhattan or Princeton as it is to a tiny sliver of a community known as Grand View-on-Hudson, about 25 miles north of Manhattan, where in the late 1970s Morrison bought a converted boathouse along the banks of the Hudson River for $120,000. In 1993, a fire destroyed a significant amount of the house and prompted a rebuild of the historic property that now includes a private dock. Tax records indicate the property was transferred to Morrison’s elder son in the months after her death.
    See more photos of the apartment below:
    Brown Harris Stevens

    Brown Harris Stevens

    Brown Harris Stevens

    Brown Harris Stevens More

  • 113 Shares189 Views

    in Luxury

    Incredible 69,000 Square Foot Mega Mansion In Caesarea, Israel

    Rear Exterior & Pool

    LOCATION: Caesarea, Israel
    SQUARE FOOTAGE: 69,000
    BEDROOMS & BATHROOMS: 4 bedrooms & 7 bathrooms
    PRICE: $73,868,361 USD
    This lavish mega mansion is located in Caesarea, Israel and is owned by billionaire Valery Kogan.

    It features approximately 69,000 square feet of living space with 4 bedrooms, 5 full and 2 half bathrooms, 2-story grand foyer with staircase, formal living & dining rooms, gourmet kitchen, breakfast room, billiards room with wet bar, game room, home theater, indoor swimming pool and much more.
    Outdoor features include a gated entrance, fountain, patio, swimming pool and more.
    It is listed at $73,868,361 USD. More

  • 238 Shares189 Views

    in Luxury

    Home of the Week: Inside the $17 Million London Mansion That Tom Ford Turned Into a Den of Style

    The stately London mansion once owned by fashion icon, perfumier and filmmaker Tom Ford, and with the designer’s stunning interior touches left intact, has just hit the market for $17.4 million.
    While clean and elegant on the outside, the inside of this four-story Victorian is all stainless steel, black glass, striated Macassar wood, and jet-black wall paneling. Sexy doesn’t even come close.

    Ford, who’s credited with reviving the fortunes of Gucci and YSL before launching his own brand in 2006, is believed to have purchased the house in 1997 for £2.55 million—around $4.08 million at the time.

    His exhaustive makeover saw the interior gutted and the Texan designer’s own inimitable style reflected in every room. Back then, the 3,700-square-foot house featured just two bedrooms.
    For Ford, the home’s considerable appeal was no doubt its coveted location in the Boltons, a swank enclave of just 30 sprawling Victorian houses in West London’s A-list Chelsea district.
    The living room.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank

    Current or former neighbors have included Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson, the late David Bowie and George Michael. Rumor has it that the home’s previous owner was Duran Duran keyboard player Nick Rhodes.
    It’s not clear how long Ford and his longtime partner Richard Buckley lived in the house. All we know is that it was listed in 2009 for £8.5 million—roughly $13.3 million.
    The cozy study.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank

    We suspect that some time between 2009 and 2012, the house sold in an off-market deal, with the new owner adding a third bedroom, but leaving all the fabulous Tom Ford design cues in place.
    Eventually the home was sold in 2014 for £12 million ($18.7 million), with the new owner again electing to leave the Tom Ford design features intact, an homage to the longevity of designer’s creative talents.
    The dining room with its black walls.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank

    Today, imposing black double gates, under the watchful eyes of a barrage of security cameras, lead to the home’s white stucco-style facade. While photos might give the impression of the double-fronted mansion being free-standing, it’s actually joined to a row of similar-style homes at one side.
    Steps lead up to the single front door and into an entrance lobby with its stunning, alabaster marble open staircase edged with mirror-finished black glass walls. To one side there’s a black-walled, black sofa-filled reception room, on the other an elegant wood-paneled dining room.

    A guest bedroom.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank

    Large, floor-to-ceiling windows in the reception room look out on to a quiet, serene courtyard that’s hidden away behind towering trees and hedgerows.
    Back inside, stairs descend to the lower ground floor—don’t call it a basement—with its stainless steel and stark white kitchen, ensuite bedroom, compact gym, steam room and wine cellar.
    The primary bedroom with its stainless steel walls and ceiling.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank

    Now take the stairs—there’s no elevator in the residence—to the second level and there’s a gorgeous Mad Men-style Macassar wood-paneled study on one side and a cozy, gray-paneled guest bedroom on the other.
    You’ll find the true Tom Ford style, however, in the third-floor primary suite with its jaw-dropping bedroom with three walls and even the ceiling, lined in matte stainless steel. It might seem a little strange, sleeping in a steel box, but it works.
    The marble staircase appears to float.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank

    Across the hallway is the spacious, though uninspiring all-white master bath and the huge dressing area with endless closets, no doubt once filled with those trademark Tom Ford black suits and crisp, white dress shirts.
    Keep heading up the staircase, and you’ll step out on to the vast rooftop deck with views of the London skyline.
    The private courtyard.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank

    Charles Olver, partner and head of sales for listing broker Knight Frank, says the interior of the house gives “an overall sense of being immersed in an exquisite piece of fine art.”
    “With an interior created by none other than one of fashion’s biggest creative names, Tom Ford, perhaps you’d expect nothing less. But still prepare to be blown away,” he adds.
    The home sits in one of London’s best districts.  Photo: Alex Winship/Knight Frank More

  • 113 Shares179 Views

    in Luxury

    $14 Million Newly Built Duplex Penthouse In Atlanta, Georgia

    Foyer

    LOCATION: 3376 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia
    SQUARE FOOTAGE: 8,266
    BEDROOMS & BATHROOMS: 4 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms
    PRICE: $13,950,000

    This stunning newly built duplex penthouse is situated atop the Waldorf Astoria Buckhead Residences located at 3376 Peachtree Road NE in Atlanta, Georgia.
    It features approximately 8,266 square feet of living space with 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, foyer with floating staircase, living & dining rooms and a gourmet kitchen.
    It is listed at $13,950,000. More

  • 125 Shares169 Views

    in Luxury

    Ellen DeGeneres Lists Balinese Inspired California Estate For $39.9 Million

    Aerial

    Talk show mogul & comedian Ellen DeGeneres has listed her Balinese inspired California estate for $39.9 million. Located at 2955 E Valley Road in Santa Barbara, Ellen and her wife Portia purchased the property in early 2019 for $27 million. It boasts a main house, guest house and cabana/gym. It features over 10,000 square feet of living space with 4 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, open concept living & dining room, gourmet kitchen, library and more. Outdoor features include a gated entrance, patios, fire pit, koi pond, pickle ball court, infinity pool and more. More

  • 88 Shares169 Views

    in Luxury

    $9.5 Million Home In New Delhi, India

    Front Exterior

    LOCATION: New Delhi, India
    SQUARE FOOTAGE: 10,000
    BEDROOMS & BATHROOMS: 7 bedrooms & 8 bathrooms
    PRICE: $9,538,214
    This luxurious home is located in New Delhi, India.

    It features approximately 10,000 square feet of living space with 7 bedrooms, 7 full and 1 half bathrooms, 2-story foyer with staircase, formal living & dining rooms, gourmet kitchen and much more. There is also a small guest house that consists of 2 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchenette.
    Outdoor features include a gated entrance, porte-cochere, balcony, patio and fountain.
    It is listed at $9,538,214. More