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    This Extravagant L.A. Mega-Mansion Is Heading to Auction Next Month

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    Back in 2005, well before his 2019 death, fashion icon Max Azria doled out $14.4 million for a historic Paul R. Williams-designed residence in the affluent Holmby Hills enclave of Los Angeles. The BCBG Max Azria founder and his wife Lubov then spent the next several years and many millions of dollars extensively renovating the property from top to bottom, before hoisting the place back up for sale with a nearly $70 million bump in price.

    Since it first hit the market nine years ago for a whopping $85 million, records show the estate has been on and off the market for as high as $88 million and as low as the current $55 million asking price; and it also was offered for rent along the way for as much as $400,000 per month and used as a filming site. Now, with the house remaining unsold, listing agents Rayni Williams and Branden Williams of The Beverly Hills Estates have opted to put the 60-room spread under the gavel via Concierge Auctions, with bids expected to start at up to $38 million.

    Married designers Lubov and Max Azria paid Sidney Sheldon $14.4 million for the Paul R. Williams-designed residence in 2005.

    Monica Schipper/Getty Images

    Originally commissioned by radio star Charles Correll in the late 1930s to the tune of $70,000—and subsequently occupied by Oscar-winning writer, producer and novelist Sidney Sheldon, who reportedly added 10,000 square feet to the premises—the sprawling compound is tucked away behind a lengthy gated driveway and spacious motorcourt with room for more than 20 vehicles. Multiple structures offer a total of 14 bedrooms and 25 baths spread across a whopping 30,000 square feet of recently updated living space.

    Glitzy amenities include an office overlooking skyline views and a 5,500-square-foot movie theater with its own concession stand, as well as nine fireplaces, a gold-domed library, wet bar-equipped game room, gym, wine cellar, catering kitchen and staff accommodations. There’s also a pool house-turned-wellness center outfitted with a sauna, steam shower and massage area.

    A parquet-clad living room is showcased by a decorative arched fireplace, music nook and French doors leading outside.

    Marc & Tiffany Angeles

    Other highlights include an elegant double-height entry foyer resting beneath a skylight and displaying a sweeping bridal staircase, plus a living room sporting parquet floors, a fireplace, music nook and wall of French doors spilling out to a terrace. A formal dining room is topped by a silver-leaf ceiling, a spacious gourmet kitchen has two islands and high-end stainless appliances, and an opulent primary suite is decked out with a fireside sitting area, private balcony, large showroom-style closet and luxe bath.

    Rounding it all out are the garden-laced grounds, which host an infinity-edge swimming pool flanked by a sundeck and grassy lawn, along with a fire-pit lounge area, glass-walled tennis court with an elevated viewing box, greenhouse for growing produce, koi pond and an al fresco tea room.

    Outdoor amenities include a tennis court with a viewing platform.

    Marc & Tiffany Angeles

    According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the upcoming auction, Azria’s widow hasn’t lived in the property for several years. Lubov has decided to sell because she now resides in L.A.’s Venice Beach neighborhood, where she operates an art gallery. “It’s literally just me. My youngest is 27,” she told WSJ. “I’m now into moving on with my life.”

    Private previews of the property are available upon request, with bidding for the  no-reserve auction set to run from May 9-23.

    Click here for more photos of the Azria estate.

    Marc & Tiffany Angeles More

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      A Sleek L.A. Spec Mansion on Storied Hollywood Ground Lists for $45 Million

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      Over in a particularly prime pocket of Los Angeles, on a hallowed parcel once home to legendary Hollywood actress Claudette Colbert, a newly built spec mansion has just popped up on the market. The asking price is a hefty $45 million, or a about $37 million more than the Holmby Hills spread last sold to a development group for almost four years ago, back in March 2019.

      Completed this year, the grand house rests on property that has a celebrity pedigree dating back to the 1930s. That’s when Colbert commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s son Lloyd Wright to build her a striking Colonial-style mansion on a 4-acre hilltop estate surrounded by picturesque gardens, where the It Happened One Night star lived until the ’60s with her husband Dr. Joel Pressman, head of UCLA’s Neck & Hand Surgery Department.

      A vintage souvenir postcard published circa-1941 from the “Homes of Movie Stars in California” series shows a view of Claudette Colbert’s Holmby Hills mansion.

      Nextrecord Archives/Getty Images

      Later owned by retired Northrop Grunman chairman and CEO Kent Kresa, and subsequently occupied by businessman Juan Villalonga, the house sold in 2014 for $7.3 million to a real estate developer who razed Colbert’s home and subdivided the surrounding land into smaller lots. An original piece of the property was next snapped up in 2019 for around $7.6 million by Kohen Development Group, who went on to design and construct a sleek architectural-style home boasting six bedrooms and 12 baths filtered across a little more than 17,600 square feet of three-level living space.

      Tucked away behind a gated driveway and high hedges, on nearly three-quarters of an acre near the prestigious Harvard-Westlake Middle School campus, the contemporary showpiece is centered around a mature olive tree that’s encased by glass walls and sits amid a water feature on the basement level.

      A dining area with a floor-to-ceiling wine display connects to a glass-lined living room overlooking the grounds.

      Christopher Amitrano/CS8 Photo

      Other highlights include a living room flaunting a soaring two-way fireplace clad in stone and dining area sporting a glass-encased wine display, along with a family room that adjoins a gourmet kitchen outfitted with top-tier Miele and PITT appliances, a couple of mini-wine cellars, dual eat-in islands and a secondary prep kitchen. A movie theater with blackout shades flows via pocketing doors to a bar holding court outside, and there also is another bar in a nook off the family room, plus two laundry rooms, an elevator and office space.

      A sumptuous upstairs master retreat features a private balcony, fireplace, hidden ceiling TV, and double walk-in closets and lavish baths, while the aforementioned basement level comes complete with a gym, sauna, and steam and massage rooms; and outdoors, the manicured grounds host a hot and cold plunge pool, circular infinity-edge pool and spa flanked by a sundeck, built-in barbecue, and several spots ideal for al fresco lounging and entertaining. There’s also a roof deck and two-car garage.

      The listing is shared by Mauricio Umanksy and Zach Goldsmith of The Agency, and Aaron Kirman, Bryce Lowe and Kirby Gillon of AKG | Christie’s International Real Estate.

      Click here for more photos of 615 N. Faring Road.

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      in Luxury

      Featured in ‘The Dropout,’ This Extravagant Los Angeles Mansion Has Sold for $34.5 Million

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      It took roughly four years and a couple of big price chops, but a Los Angeles real estate investor has finally managed to unload his lavish Neoclassical-style estate in a prime Holmby Hills neighborhood for $34.5 million. And though that’s far less than the $49.5 million Saeed Farkhondehpour originally wanted, it’s still loads more than the $4.5 million he paid for the place just over two decades ago.

      Records indicate the discount-minded buyer is local interventional cardiologist Vinod Jivrajka, who currently serves as chairman of Episource Clarity Platform, which specializes in risk-adjustment services, software and solutions for health-care providers. He previously founded AppleCare Medical Group, where he was president and CEO for more than 20 years. 

      The entry foyer opens to a soaring atrium-style living area.

      Ryan Lahiff

      Tucked away behind walls and gates—just a few doors down from the Playboy Mansion, and not too far from Spelling Manor—the mansion was custom-built by Farkhondehpour in 2020. Records show the real estate investor paid roughly $4.5 million in late 2002 for the 1.5-acre parcel, then subsequently razed an existing 1940s home originally designed by architect A. Quincy Jones to make way for the new residence.

      If this particular house looks familiar, it might be due to its starring role in The Dropout, the Hulu limited series that became a huge hit last year. On camera, the massive estate portrayed the real-life Atherton, Calif., mansion once owned by disgraced biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) and Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews).

      A fireside office space has its own entrance.

      Ryan Lahiff

      Per Zac Mostame of Carolwood Estates, who held the listing with Lea Porter of The Beverly Hills Estates, the property features a main three-story house with six bedrooms and 10 baths, plus a separate two-story guesthouse with four bedrooms and three baths—for a whopping total of 21,000 square feet of European-inspired living space decked out with its share of modern amenities.

      As for the primary quarters, main-level highlights include a soaring entry foyer displaying a dual glass staircase that flows seamlessly to an expansive atrium-style living area boasting a linear fireplace and floor-to-ceiling walls of glass. There’s also a fireside living room, formal dining room, and gourmet kitchen outfitted with two islands, top-tier Gaggenau appliances and an accompanying breakfast nook, as well as an upstairs master retreat flaunting a balcony, showroom-style closet and luxe bath.

      A wine cellar is just one of the home’s many amenities.

      Ryan Lahiff

      Elsewhere is a bookshelf-lined office, high-tech movie theater, wet bar-equipped game room, wine cellar, gym, sauna and subterranean garage with room for at least 13 vehicles; and outdoors, the picturesque grounds are laced with gardens, and host a pond sporting fountains and a footbridge, along with a pool and spa flanked by a pergola with a barbecue and bar setup, sunken fire-pit, gazebo and tennis court.

      Jivrajka was repped in the deal by Ram Handa of Hilton & Hyland.

      Click here for more photos of The Dropout mansion.

      Ryan Lahiff More