Filed under: Estates

Real estate in the Says may be having tough times but in Canada things seem to be booming and we are seeing more amazing estates all over the country. This one in Metchosin in Greater Victoria, British Columbia is one of the most expensive. The home was finished in 2006 and sits on 67 acres. The design received a National Canadian Architect Award. The design is a mix on interior and outdoor design that includes pools of water which are part of a geothermal heating and air conditioning system that pulls water from the ocean and runs through the home. The water also divides the living and bedroom areas. The home is quite striking, if perhaps a bit chilly looking. I love the giant red sofas in the living room area. The estate includes a guest house, boat house, covered pool, and a tennis court. It is listed at $24 million Canadian.

Continue reading Swanwick Ranch, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates

This stately home in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco hit the market earlier this month. The Neo-Classic mansion sits high on a hill and was designed by Houghton Sawyer in 1912 for sugar baron Adolph Spreckels and his wife Alma, as their first residence. The five-bedroom mansion has Bay views and has been retrofitted for seismic integrity. The photos reveal that in many areas the original wood work and beautiful moldings have been retained. As faithful readers know, I love a good library and this one is a beauty with a fireplace and plenty of shelves. The kitchen seems less than inspired, it looks like it belongs in some other home, certainly not a home worth this much money. And, while I’m finding fault, I can’t comprehend why someone would take a home like this and then install tiny round ceiling lights. I like light as much as the next person but in a home with good bones like this, modern round lights set flush into the ceiling are an abomination. This home is listed at $25 million. Zillow’s zestimate is screamingly off here, they’ve got it at close to $4 million.

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Continue reading Pacific Heights, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates

What attracts me to this home, billed as a “gentleman’s ranch” in Spicewood, Texas, is the sense of space. The center of the home is anchored by a massive great room that is ringed with limstone archways that lead to other rooms. The main home has been designed for two with the guests ensconced in a separate six-bedroom guest house. The main house is designed for entertaining on a grand scale. The kitchen is big and there’s also a 1,500 bottle wine room and a big pantry. The Owner’s suite includes a separate living room and study, sleeping quarters and a hobby room. The master water closet is a bit kooky with one of those round tubs which seems to be placed in front a shower area. The property is 18 acres total and the rest of the buildings are clustered around the pool and patio area which includes a summer kitchen with a grill, refrigerator, sink and granite countertops. The land also includes a six-car garage with attic and closet space plus a half bath. This home is listed at $4.25 million.

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Continue reading Spicewood Ranch, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Oh my, today’s estate just stirs up all my dreamy little artsy bohemian fantasies. As the Wall Street Journal’s Christina S.N. Lewis reported in the Private Properties column, a farm in Spain’s Catalonia, owned by the family of surrealist Joan Mir

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the NY Post’s Gimme Shelter:
–Newly married Harvey Weinstein has sold his SoHo condo for $8 million.He bought the loft apartment in 2005 for $6.8 million and he and his new wife Georgina Chapman now live in a townhouse in the West Village.
–Former and potentially future first daughter Chelsea Clinton is interested in a $3 million, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in the coveted One Madison Park condominium complex.

From the NY Observer’s Manhattan Transfers:
–Popular real estate broker Robby Browne closed last month on a two-bedroom apartment at Robert A.M. Stern’s new Fifteen Central Park West which he plans to rent out for somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000.
–Former world wide web entrepreneur Wayne Correia was briefly worth about $400 million during which time he paid cash for a New York City penthouse. Later he moved into a steel bus traveling the country. This month, his old eight-room penthouse at 136 Waverly Place shut for $8.7 million.
–The man who wrote Beyonc

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Filed under: Estates

If you are a fan of Santa Fe style, this is the one for you. It’s a newer Bob Ritter built stone and adobe home that took more than 500 tons of native moss rock and 53,000 adobe bricks to finish. This home is located in the Club Estates area and is on over 9 acres overlooking the 14th fairway of the Sunrise golf course. There are four bedrooms and over 7,000 square feet of space total. The details here, like the wood beamed ceilings, the smooth adobe fireplaces and the hallways rimmed with stone are nice but there’s something about this home that feels off and chilly. Perhaps adobe does not lend itself to the vastness or perhaps its the ultra Southwestern staging job. This home is listed at $4.6 million, which seems a bit high.

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Continue reading 5 Peregrine, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates, Journeys

Luxury and Fort Lauderdale are not exactly synonymous but the new 105-suite il Lugano resort hopes to change that. The hotel, which opens on January 2, offers oversized one-bedroom suites and the two-bedroom suites with huge balconies. There are also entertainment suites with terraces that are capable of handling up to 50 guests. Amenities include full-sized refrigerators, microwaves and cook-tops and washers and dryers.

The top four floors are given over to 23 residences. The units range in size from 1,600 to 7,000 square feet with 10- to 11-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass windows. European kitchens and big balconies. Unit owners are entitled to use all hotel amenities. A three-bedroom condo is currently listed at $1.95 million.

The hotel has a swimming pool, fitness center, lobby bar and 10 boat slips on the Intracoastal Waterway. A signature restaurant fronting the Intracoastal will be announced next spring. Introductory rates begin at $199.

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Filed under: Estates

To put you in a Christmas state of mind, let’s visit the tiny town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Connecticut that’s, for a look at Fox Hollow Farm. This cute post and beam home is on 197 acres of woods and pastures that are probably looking pretty Christmasy right about now. The farmhouse has exposed beams, soaring ceilings and cozy stone fireplaces. The first floor includes the country kitchen, dining room with seating for 20, a big exercise room that has a sauna and a private deck with a hot tub. The listing says that it was built in 2001 but that kitchen oddly looks even older, perhaps its the color. The living room is dominated by a great stone fireplace, unfortunately blemished by the placement of a flatscreen television. There are four bedrooms total including a master suite with a brick fireplace and an office with built in desks and bookshelves. Fox Hollow Farm is also located in one of only three state towns with no zoning, meaning that the property could be used for a corporate retreat, small school, equestrian farm, Inn, restaurant, place of worship or residential development. It is listed at $5.25 million.

Continue reading Fox Hollow Farm, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates

This one is fun just from an art standpoint. “Upswing” is located in Coral Gables, Florida and is described as an art collector’s dream. This four-bedroom modern home is full of light and angles with plenty of white spaces and glass walls. It’s hard to take it on its own merits without considering the vivid contemporary art that dominates the space. In some cases, particularly the very bright office space, the colors might be a bit too much for someone with gentler taste. And the current furnishings don’t look too comfortable, even if I am smitten by the bench that looks like a woolly bear caterpillar. I do, however, love the patchwork tile in the kitchen. Outside the home’s gardens are home to orchids, a pool, fountain and a waterfall. It is listed at $4 million.

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Filed under: Estates

I received an interesting tip from reader randkris who said that Champ D’Or, the palatial estate in Denton, Texas had been sold. This estate has been on the market for years with no one willing to take on the 48,000 square feet of space that includes a tearoom, garden room, bowling alley, ballroom and mini-theater (but only six bedrooms). The prices has zoomed up and down but the last time I checked it out it was sitting at $59.55 million. The home was built by a couple, the Goldfields, who created their dream home and then decided it was too big and put it on the market.

I contacted the listing agent Greg Cagle who was able to confirm that the home is under contract but can’t divulge any further details. Imagine celebrating the holidays in this home. Wow.

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