CARLA BRUNI SARKOZY’S ITALIAN CHILDHOOD HOME UP FOR SALE

 

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, listed by Forbes Magazine as one of the world’s wealthiest men, is now fiipping the Castello di Castagneto Po in the hills northeast of Turin. The wife of French head-of-state Nicolas Sarkozy spent her early childhood living in the property but the family relocated to Paris in the early 1970’s as The Red Brigade Marxist guerrilla group stuck fear among Italy’s elite and sent death threats.  The family sold it to the Prince earlier this year.

The castle is 21,000 sq ft, has 40 rooms that  the family extensively restored and lavishly appointed in 1952.   There are 185 acres with vegetable gardens, orchids, flowering terraces, ancient greenhouses, a caretaker’s house and barn.  The castle was destroyed in 1705 in warfare, and rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in 1835.  The imposing façade brings up images of fairy tale princesses. The property was sold for about $30.96MM, purchased for about $27.5MM by the  Prince.  Bruni-Sarkozy’s industrialist father, Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, paid less than one million British pounds in 1952. 

MIZNER-DESIGNED LA BELLUCIA SALE MAKES 2009 RECORD

 

 

Listed for $27.5MM, this beautiful storied mansion in Palm Beach was the county’s largest sale on record in 2009.  The home was built in 1920 and named by owner, a physician and capitalist, Willey J. Kingsley, for his wife, Lucy, who founded the Garden Club of Palm Beach 

The mansion was owned later by Ailsa Mellon Bruce, termed in the 1950’s Forbes magazine as the richest woman in the United States. Then it sat on an isolated stretch of beach. The house is now subject to code enforcement actions by the Landmarks Preservation Commissioners. There are 9 bedrooms in the 12,000 sq ft estate on 3.8 acres and sits on a ridge with 234 feet of oceanfront land. The property is located at 1200 South Ocean Boulevard.

The new owner, now a real estate mogul, once waited tables at The Breakers to earn money for college.  The Mizner mansion was formerly owned by NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer.  Glazer owns another home on South Ocean Boulevard, and had planned to remodel this property, but instead decided to sell. 

There are 10,000 full-time residents and an additional 20,000 in town during peak season which is November through April.  The highest price ever paid for a private residence in America went to Ronald O. Perelman in 2009 for $70MM for his oceanfront mansion.

1820 TEN ROOM HOUSE FOR SALE ON NANTUCKET

Only a half mile to the beach, this charming Colonial home has 3 fireplaces, 5 bedrooms, 4 ½ baths.  Floors are wood.  There is a patio porch and garden and one car garage.  Acreage is .12.  Featured are the original wide pine flooring, and interior doors.  With a side yard and backyard, brick driveway and detached garage, this is a simply charming historic home on Main Street.  List price is $2,150,000.

HISTORICAL ST. PETERSBURG FL MANSION FOR SALE FOR $18MM

This 1920’s style mansion is on Snell Isle with a fabulous panoramic view of Tampa Bay.  Currently appraised by Pinellas County Appraiser’s office for $4.62MM, purchase price in 2006 was $5.1MM.  New upgrades have increased the price, including central air and heating in 10,000+ sq ft of living space (there was none before), replacement of a 600’ seawall, addition of a 75’ long heated pool, and installation of docks to accommodate additional yachts. 

The structure was returned to it’s original condition by master craftsmen.  They found fireplaces, beams, archways and ceiling paintings previously concealed from view by drywall and paint.  New fixtures and amenities were installed, some coming from castles in Europe.  Seawall balustrades were duplicated on the balconies.   

If you are looking in this price range, this property is a “must-see”!

GUBER SELLS TARA PLANTATION IN HAWAII

Tara Plantation is about 174 acres and features a 13,154 sq ft plantation-style main house with six bedrooms and eight-and-a-half bathrooms.  Included on the property are two 4,000 sq ft guesthouses, his-and-hers living rooms, horse stables, a pool, a beach cabana, caretaker’s house and yoga studio.  A spring-fed pool and sand beach are on the property that is situated on a bay where the sandy beach is both safe from large swells and affords privacy.  Guber built the residences in 1999 and 2000.

In 1998 Guber’s Mandalay Properties Hawaii bought the oceanfront property for $7.3MM, listed it more than four years ago for $46.5MM and last December cut the price to $39.5MM.  The house was sold for $28MM in Hawaii’s biggest property transaction for 2009. 

19 C. MANSION, KORNER’S FOLLY IN NORTH CAROLINA, IS A BUSY PLACE

A well-restored 19 C. mansion, this unusual and unique home was built in the 1870s by a dapper young gentleman named Jule Korne.  He was an artist, designer and architect known for his Bull Durham cigarette ads painted on buildings throughout the south. The house was meant to be a home, and included an artist’s studio, office, recreational hall and ballroom, carriage house and stables.  The stables later became a library and sewing room.

Every square inch of the entry foyer including the ceiling has ornamentation.  There are 22 rooms on 3 floors with seven levels, many with hidden nooks and crannies.  Ceiling heights range from 5’ in the children’s rooms to 25’ in the attic, where there is a theatre.  The house contains 15 differently styled fireplaces, many peculiar cubbyholes and trap doors.  All doorways vary. Windows pivot and other openings create a clever air ventilation system, done many years before the advent of modern air-conditioning.  Beautilful tile and woodworking abound along with decorative murals by German master Caesar Milch.  Korners Folly was a name given to the mansion by Korner when his cousin called it by that name.

Korner’s wife loved the performing arts. She kept the Mansion open  to children for games and activities, hired a music teacher and bought instruments for the children to use.  Plays were given in the attic to which the entire community was invited. The Theatre is now considered the first private little theatre in the country.   The property is owned by a non-profit foundation and open to the public for walk-in tours year round.   There is a gift shop on the premises. Call (336)-996-7922 for additional information.

MOST EXPENSIVE HOME IN THE UNITED STATES: $150mm PRICE TAG

A 56,500 sq ft French Chateau with 123 rooms sounds more like a hotel than a home, but there is a buyer out there somewher every property. While this buyer won’t be easy to find, chances are they will appear.  Located in Holmby Hills, California, the owner is Candy Spelling, widow of Aaron Spelling.   Candy’s bestseller, “Stories from Candyland,” have given the property the nickname, “Candyland.”  The estate was completed in 1991 for about $47MM, including $10MM for the land.  The property contains a bowling alley, wine cellar, beauty salon, humidity-controlled silver storage room, rooftop rose garden, library, gym, tennis courts, pool, 16 car ports and state-of-the-art home theatre.  In her 60’s, Candy was quoted as saying she plans to trade her mansion lifestyle for a luxurious two-story condo atop a residential tower in Los Angeles that she purchased for $47MM.

1320 NORTH LAKE WAY PALM BEACH MANSION FOR SALE BY ROYALTY

The half-sister to King Abdullah II, ruler of Jordan, has put one of her posh Tuscan Palm Beach mansions in Eden Villa up for sale for $17.5MM. The Palm Beach County Property Appraisers Office has the market value in 2008 at $10.6MM; Zillow values it between $7.4MM and $11.35MM. In August 2008, the Princess paid $11MM for it.

Seldomly used by the Jordanian royal couple, the classic Mediterranean villa has 7 bedrooms, 8 full and 2 half baths, 10,320 sq ft, floors are Ceramic Italian tile and limestone floors and ceilings are 10’ high. Included are imported mahogany windows with storm glass, gourmet kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances, spectacular courtyard, pretty loggias, and tropical fruit trees. Property is lakefront with a 60’ lap pool and 1-bedroom cabana with full kitchen and built-in grille, plush tropical garden and a 150’ deep dock which is said to be capable of accommodating almost any sea-going vessel even over 100’ long.

They also own the larger house next door, valued at $11.8MM last year by the county and by Zillow between $9MM and 4MM. The princess is the eldest daughter of the late King Hussein who died in 1999 and his first wife, who he divorced in 1957.

RENOVATED 18TH C, UK CHURCH FOR SALE

St. Nicholas’ Church House in Kyloe, Northumberland, built in 1972, was totally renovated by a couple who purchased it nine years ago. Kyloe is a quiet hamlet 6 miles from the coast, 10 miles from Berwick and a few minutes from Belford. They loved the view from this Gothic building, and decided to renovate it. There are beautiful stained glass windows. They restored original features such as stone pillars and timber ceiling trusses. The full-height open-plan living room incorporates the chancel, nave and vestry and has stone mullioned windows all around, radiators and cast iron with under-floor heating. The Great Room serves as a living, dining and kitchen space.

Two staircases lead to the floor above that has a galleried balcony library, two bedrooms with timber roof trusses and a tower bedroom suite within the former bell tower. The property covers 1.4 acres and has a graveyard in front. New owners can convert a detached 781 sq ft stone outbuilding into a 2-bedroom cottage. There are 4/5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 kitchens. One kitchen has views to the sea and to the north and has limestone floors. Cabinets are pitch-pine reclaimed from old church pews and roof timbers. List price is approximately $1.3mm.