Friday, July 20, 2007

Fleur De Lys Photographs of the Day (Part 2)

Today Your Mama is pleased to bring the children a couple more interior photographs of Fleur De Lys, the big ass Holmby Hills house owned by Suzanne Saperstein which ya'll know is on the market for the eye popping price $125,000,000. Yesterday we discussed the rose and gold colored entrance hall, and today we bring you the Silver Sitting Room.

Now, of course Your Mama does not have a clue if the Missus Saperstein actually calls this room the Silver Sitting Room, but if she does not, she should. We've got a huge silver toned carpet that we're quite sure cost more than a Mercedes. We've got Louis XIV style chairs and settees with silver fabric (or is this Louis XV?). Then of course we notice the long and elaborately swagged silver drapes which would not be out of place in a swanky funeral home in Moscow.

And because no silver room is truly complete without a hefty dose of gold, we see the Saperstein's team of interior decorators have continued the 24 carat gold gilding that we saw in the entrance hall. The effect is both soothing and electric all at the same time.

Also please note the carved friezes and the extremely elaborate ceiling mural of clouds. We are reminded here of the ceiling at the Forum Shops in Las Vegas (the mall attached to the Caesar's Palace hotel), where the cloud mural ceiling changes from day to night with the clever use of lighting. Some of the statues at the indoor mall also come to life for impromptu and frightening floor shows, which Your Mama thinks would be a perfect addition to this room.

Note the the children: We know this house, technically, occupies a large group of lots in the Holmby Hills. But the property has a Bel Air address and zip code. According to the tax assessor, there really isn't a legal place as the Holmby Hills, and most assuredly the Saperstein's massive tax bill shows a Bel Air address.

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

stunning

:)

Anonymous said...

hmm.. mama, i heard the haulk is selling his miami digs. you have anything on that?

:)

Anonymous said...

Your roman numerals make no sense... just letting you know ;)

Anonymous said...

THIS HOUSE IS SOOOOO FIERCE I WANT IT!!!!

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm just getting used to it, through your slow flow of pictures, because this room doesn't seem as awful.

....or Maybe I have heat stroke from the Malibu sun.

Anonymous said...

your numerals do need some help mama..
I can help you

:)

Your Mama said...

There, we've changed the headline so all you roman numeral snobs can leave us alone.

Anonymous said...

You had me rolling again Mama, thankyou :) Some of you people have got to be kidding. You actually find this room even remotely acceptable??

Now I've got a toothache and a headache too.. yeesh.

Anonymous said...

Well this room isn't AS awful. This one just looks like a gaudy hotel.

Anonymous said...

This looks like houses in Houston. River Oaks is just full of this shit.

Ack!

Anonymous said...

mama, your roman numeral issues aren't over.

"We've got Louis IVX style chairs and settees with silver fabric (or is this Louis VX?)."

--> change it to "XIV" <-- which maens "14"

there she blows!!!!!!!!

but i think you are great, nothing against you. roman numerals are HARD to master.

:)

Anonymous said...

PURPLE BOX ON THE RIGHT

:)

Anonymous said...

maybe just post an entire blog about roman numerals (half way joking) so that EVERYONE can benefit!

LOL

:)

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 3:21 PM, I've been in a number of River Oaks homes, and never saw anything even approaching this, but that was years ago and none of them were newer builds.

As for this house, I guess it's a good thing it's not turning Everyone's stomach, but unless a mideast sheikh buys it, I think the Saperstein's are going to have to come wayyy down on the price to unload it.

Your Mama said...

Alright Mister Smiley we got in now. Thank you very much. It's not ignorance, although there's plenty of that, but dyslexia that gets us transposing numbers and letters.

Anonymous said...

ooh... shiney...

Anonymous said...

smiley, how do you imbed a link like that, if it's not too complicated or tedious to explain, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Amen Mama.. if I had a nickle for every typing error I'm guilty of, Trump Tower would have been called Phoenix Tower ;)

Anonymous said...

pssst smiley, if you can imbed a link to a place on the web that explains how to do it in rather simple terms, that'll work too :)

Anonymous said...

phoenix..

click HERE and when you have mastered it, post a comment with a hyperlink in it, directing to mama's first set of flur de lys pictures.

:)

luke220 said...

I can not even fathom finding the skilled craftsmen to build this "palace", let alone what it must have cost to build (and then furnish).

What is the annual property tax bill on this monstrosity??

Anonymous said...

Thankyou smiley. I bookmarked the site and will study it tomorrow. I took some sinus meds and am feeling a bit dizzier than usual at the moment, lol :)

Anonymous said...

Phoenix...

I'm anonymous 3:21.

My folks live in River Oaks. There ARE houses like this. There is one 3 houses down from ours. It's 27,000 square feet of gold and roses!

Anonymous said...

Wow Anon, small world. We lived on Del Monte for several years before being transferred to San Francisco. I believe you. 27,000 square feet of gold and roses? Ok, add upset stomach to my list of ills this evening, lol.

Anonymous said...

BTW, 27,000 square feet??? That just hit me. Geeze, much bigger than anything I remember there, even on River Oaks Blvd. Amazing, and how things have changed apparently.

Anonymous said...

I rather like it. I'll bet if this was in France or British hunt country, you'd be all over it.

Anonymous said...

Love the color palette, but hate the style of furniture.

Anonymous said...

damn, sorry i missed the big roman numeral brouhaha. and here i thought we stopped using them several centuries ago so why the mind numbing back and forth....well anyway, mama i love you and your hilarious column immensely. i read it several times a week, quote from it, refer friends to it, am totally entertained and informed by it, HOWEVER.....i think you're missing the mark on this whole "Fleur De Lys" thing.

david saperstein came up with a cool idea, somewhat rudimentary but cool nonetheless, and he made a fortune. pretty much a textbook american success story only on steroids. i know nothing about his wife, suzanne, or her decorator(s) for that matter but i sure wouldn't mind being in her manolo's. and i'm getting to the point here, but one last thing before i do...i'm a huge neutra and schindler fan, every nest i ever feathered for myself has been aalto'd, noguchi'd and saarinen'd to death and i don't know my louis 15's from my 16's, but so far, at mama's day 2 ? well this faux versailles, whether it's in beverly hills, holmby hills (even better) or run for the hills, appears to be very tastefully done. it's elegant, architecturally balanced and largely period correct. is it over the top? f#%@ yeah! of course it is, i'm not blind. but if you study the colors, the symmetry and the choices and placement of the furnishings, it's not that awful. there's a fine line between expressing one's personal tastes and preferences through criticism and being a ms. snooty nose and engaging in ridicule. i think somebody's mama has crossed the line here...i mean i'm just saying it's a possibility...

Anonymous said...

swanky funeral home in Moscow. BRILLIANT!

Anonymous said...

Oh puhleeez.. I wouldn't miss expressions like "swanky funeral home in Moscow" for the world, and it's befitting such a vulgar display of ostentatiously conspicuous consumption. You want snooty? The Sapersteins won't even allow your adoring eyes to grace the very same pictures you're seeing here THANKS TO MAMA unless and until you prove you can afford to cough up the $125 Million they're asking for the place. I mean, just sayin'...

Anonymous said...

Dayum Anon @ 10:56 PM.. great minds think alike, huh ;)

Anonymous said...

Phoenix

Small world, indeed.

I just double checked about the River Oaks house.

It's 23,000 sf...not 27...sorry. But, still.

It's sort of Vegas meets Rococo.

A non-discreet monster on Kirby.

Anonymous said...

I have a question: when you purchase something like this, do the furnishings come with it?

These furnishing are appropriate for the style and grandeur of the home. You wouldn't want early American!

It would be a shame to have to start all over to furnish this medical dental sized building again when it's all there.

luke220 said...

Mama,
Do you think that Mr. S. is overcompensating for a small thingie?

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 10:47 AM, interesting, thanks. I still find the square footage staggering, even for River Oaks. Now you've got me wondering where on Kirby it could possibly have been built, and why they even chose Kirby, because that is by and large the most public street in all of River Oaks, a virtual freeway extention of the Allen Parkway. Did they tear down the old Ash Robinson house and build it there perhaps? Just my best guess is all.

Anonymous said...

One last thought Anon. I can still see Kirby in my mind as if it was yesterday, and that new house must stick out like a sore thumb. Does it? I doubt if there's another home on the street that's much over 5000 square feet.

Anonymous said...

oops, meant to say much over 10,000 square feet.

Anonymous said...

Phoenix,

It's was built in the mid 80's. It is visible from the street, on the north side of Kirby. Go to local.live.com and look at birds eye views. You'll know which house I'm talking about. There are a few houses around that size, on Lazy Lane and Willowick, all built within the last 7 or 8 years. I'd say most of the surrounding houses are 8-12,000 sf along Kirby.

Anonymous said...

Phoenix

Also, there is a house on Inverness at Willowick that is much in the manner of Fleur de Lys, if not more over the top. I think it's 20,000+ square feet.

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much Anon. Well, that explains it them because we moved in the early 1980's. I kind of hate to think of newer mega mansions cluttering up the landscape. I say that because I loved the collection of unique and beautiful older homes, and it pains me to think of them being demolished to make way for something else that is rarely as tasteful. Nice chatting :)

Anonymous said...

Anon, btw.. I don't know how new your family is to the oaks, but Kirby is a rather infamous street you know. Back before even we lived there, a big scandal took place that got mega national coverage which centered on Kirby Drive. Ash Robinson was a Texas oil magnate who lived on the street (if it's still there, it's a rather modest looking 1 story contemporary). His daughter Joan married a Dr. Hill and moved further up the street (white colonial at the corner of Kirby & San Felipe, sitting catty corner on the lot). Dr. Hill got involved with another woman, and murdered Joan in that house by slowly poisoning her, then Ash Robinson had Dr. Hill gunned down by an assasin in the same house for killing his daughter. The story is recounted in the now classic book 'Blood and Money' by Thomas Thompson.

Anonymous said...

Phoenix,

I'm aware of the situation. The house where it occurred (it's at Kirby & Brentwood) is a few blocks west of my folks. My family's been in R.O. for a long, long time.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 5.59 - River oaks

Do you have any more info about the estate on Inverness at Willowick in RO? Like the architect...? I looked at it on local.live - amazing place.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure of the architect. It is palatial, but if you like that type of house, go back to local.live and look at river oaks blvd @ inwood. This house was Ken Lay's during the whole Enron deal. I've been in this one. It is gorgeous and proper. It was build in the 30's, by John Staub, the same architect that did my family's home. Though ours looks nothing like it.

Anonymous said...

Anon, quite right.. Joan's home was on the corner of Kirby & Brentwood, my mistake; the Robinson home was at 1029 Kirby.

Anonymous said...

ref the roman numerals - woody allen said it the best in Small Time Crooks "ya know, ya know, it was was one of high loueys"

Anonymous said...

I'm blind, blind!

Anonymous said...

Ken Lay never lived on River Oaks and Inwood. It was a newer house one block east. I think the cross street is Bellemeade. That house also belonged to Joanne King Herring who is being played by Julia Roberts in a movie whose title I don't know. The house at 1620 River Oaks Blvd. belonged to Lynn and Oscar Wyatt and was sold (and doubled in size) in 2000 to Jim and Cherie Flores.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and the other house on Inverness and Willowick belongs to Michael Zilka. It's very well done inside and out. Underground parking garage. I think they bought six houses and tore them down for this beautiful pile of bricks. It took like six years to build and I know the architects but I just can't think of them now...:-(

Anonymous said...

Thanks (new) Anon.. so the Wyatts have moved. Never thought they would while either one was still living. I think just about every famous person in the world has been there for a party at one time or another.

Anonymous said...

This home is NOT in Beverly Hills. It is in Los Angeles, in the Bel-Air neighborhood, with the zip code 90077. Do your homework!

Anonymous said...

ok to Phoenix and friend: I thought the Sapersteins lived on RO Blvd, not Kirby. Am I wrong? Also, I was in the Zilka house once, her closet was to die for, very French, all behind closed doors. The house was gorgeous, but the furnishings were all French mid century modern, which, well I dont care for much, but there was something with the staircase I remember that was awful.