Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Your Mama Hears...

...from a frightfully well-connected informant we'll call Patty Propertyseller that Her Madgesty Madonna has surreptitiously made her Beverly Hills, CA estate available as a pocket listing.

As soon as Patty Propertyseller dropped that juicy celebrity real estate nugget in our fat lap a day or two ago we contacted a few of our other trusted tattletales and quickly heard back from Knancy Knowsthedish—like Patty Propertyseller, an exceedingly well-connected Beverly Hills real estate insider—who snitched that Madge wants $28,000,000 for her French Country-style mansion that sits down a long gated drive off a particularly swish stretch of Sunset Boulevard.

When in residence in Beverly Hills the still-epically-famous-at-50 international superstar is surrounded by massive mansions and exuberantly landscaped estates owned by high fallutin' folks like Stewart and Lynda Resnick, star maker Simon Cowell, sitcom royal Max Mutchnick, and shopping mall magnate Guilford Glazer. Last year it was widely reported Madonna's Bev Hills estate sits next door to the depressingly disheveled Richard Neutra-designed Kronish House bought last October (2011) for $12,800,000 by—Your Mama heard last year from Anita Tellsomebody—Paris Hilton's ex-beau, Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos.

Miz Ciccone Penn Ritchie bought her 1.14-acre Sunset Boulevard estate back in June 2003 when married to her most recent ex-hubby English filmmaker Guy Ritchie. The seller was actress Sela Ward (CSI: NY, House M.D., Sisters). Property records aren't entirely clear but most reports on the matter say she/they paid around (or exactly) $12,000,000.

The Los Angeles County Tax Man shows the main house measures 5,800 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms but those figures may or may not be accurate given the lavish-living Madonna is thought to have expanded and completely redecorated the residence. Knancy Knowsthedish didn't drop the 411 on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms but did mention the interiors are "comfy" and "surprisingly normal." 

The house sits at the rear of the essentially-flat parcel that includes substantial off-street parking, intimate gardens tucked behind and around the side of the main house, a lighted tennis court, and a rectangular swimming pool with an adjacent pool house.

Some of the children may recall this is the very house, so the story we (and others) heard through the celebrity real estate gossip grapevine goes, David and Victoria Beckham wanted to buy back when they moved to Los Angeles in 2007 but were turned off when Madge (allegedly) jacked up the price by ten or so million clams and then told them she didn't want to sell it after all. Rumor and gossip, kittens, rumor and gossip.

This is not the first—nor will it likely be the last—great house in Los Angeles owned by Madonna. In the mid-1990s she owned Longdons Castle (more familiarly known as Castillo del Lago), a legendary wedding cake of a mansion set high on a slim ridge above Lake Hollywood and currently owned by fashion designer Leon Max.

From there The Material Girl decamped to Los Pavoreales, a sprawling Wallace Neff-designed hacienda in Los Feliz, later owned by Bodhi and Jenna Elfman who sold it to Katey Sagal and Kurt Sutter who sold it to Rachel Sweet and Tom Palmer who sold it in April 2010 for $4,895,000 to a non-celebrity financier. Madge moved on from Los Pavoreales to another Wallace Neff-designed Mediterranean-mansion on North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills she bought from actress and historic home saver Diane Keaton in May 2002 for around $6,500,000. She sold that house for $8,750,000 shortly after she purchased her current westcoast bedsit, the one she bought from Sela Ward and (allegedly) available for those with the dough able to get in touch with one of the real estate agents in the know.

In addition to her up for grabs abode in Beverly Hills, Madonna's stateside holdings currently include (but may not be limited to) a slew of contiguous apartments at Harperley Hall on New York City's Central Park West, a triple-wide townhouse on the Upper East Side she bought in 2009 for $32,500,000 and extensively renovated, and Wild Ocean Farm, an equestrian facility in Bridgehampton (NY) she picked up in late 2009 from fashion designer Calvin Klein's equestrian-minded ex-wife Kelly. Across the pond, the former couple's English country estate Ashcombe went to Mister Ritchie in the dee-vorce but Madonna continues to maintain at least one Georgian-style townhouse in London's Marylebone neighborhood.

Now remember kids, this is all just rumor and gossip for now but remember you got The T here when you see this matter discussedd in the property gossip columns of more mainstream and respectable publications and websites.

aerial photo: Pacific Coast News

21 comments:

Carla Ridge said...

Not at all surprised -- iffin it be true (and I'll bet it is). In fact, i've rather been waiting for this to happen. Wow, maybe I *can* predict the future, LOL.

Anonymous said...

speaking of mansions, when i looked at 363 copa de oro of nic cage, i kind of came to conclusion, that mayben nic should not have named his kid Kal El (superman). More appropriate would been Bruce Wayne (Batman) :)

http://weahomes.com/slideshows/647/slideshow.html

anyway does that house now belongs to bank or his manager? i saw some info on net that the house is like owned by bank and his manager

Anonymous said...

I have no interest whatsoever in Madonna but when she is mentioned I always recall what Ritchie was said to have said about her during their divorce: "Making love to her is like snuggling up to a piece of gristle." (So much for her hard body).

Anonymous said...

Way overpriced. That place is not even worth $20M.

Anonymous said...

I drive by her house on Sunset quite often as I live in West Hollywood and Sunset gets me to the westside and attempt to glance as I drive by. As the driveway is slightly elevated as you approach the house you can see cars/SUV's that always have covers over them so not sure why the garage is not used and also shows she is rarely in town. This is primo strip Mamma as you stated and completely land locked that would include extra privacy. I imagine the interiors are as immaculate as the exteriors... Great house and she will probably in this market get hte 20 Million as for some reason that market is hot!

Anonymous said...

It's actually Lynda Resnick, not Faye Resnick. Of the Fiji Water/POM Wonderful, etc... Resnicks.

Your Mama said...

Oh hunny, you are correct about it being Lynda. Thank you. Where was our boozy head?

FonHom said...

Kurt Sutter (creator and EP, "Sons of Anarchy") is married to the lovely Katey Sagal but hasn't yet taken her name.

Anonymous said...

You never know who reads this so I'll be vague. I am in contact with her quite often and have been in this home and I'm surprised she has had it for this long. Madonna lives in NYC and has probably visited LA for no more than 7 days in the past year or so. She's only in LA for a few days during awards season.

Anonymous said...

Madge's first LA home in the '80s when she came onto the music scene and made some moolah was on Oriole Way where Leonardo lives now. You may recall a battle with a neighbor about trees/view, and a neighbor allowing the paps to come into their yard to climb the wall and see into Madge's turf. She bought it from a Neiman Marcus CEO, I believe, and I think she sold directly to LD, but do not recall for sure or if there was an owner in between. Personally, I still love Madonna - including the new CD.

Carol Wood

Anonymous said...

Well, if Madonna is only keeping the house for "awards season"- good reason for her to sell. She'll never get an acting or directing Oscar, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

28 million for that house being that it is located on sunset is insane! If it was on an interior street then maybe but no way its worth over 20.

Carla Ridge said...

Anonymous 11:12 -- it can be told now, because it's ancient history, but Mama and I toured the Cage residence just after he took flight. We oohed and awed and raised eyebrows at questionable choices and made our way up the hidden staircase to the roof. Fun times.

One thing I wanted to pass on to Mama -- do you remember the angled Game Room/Jousting Hall addition that had been put up in the 70's by Dean Martin? The one that encroached the pool and entertaining area? Well, our Fairy Godmother (you know, the one who 'wrote the book') tells me that addition -- while it was actually designed by Gerard Colcord, not some wanna-be -- has been TORN DOWN, nicely opening up the otherwise stultifying back yard.

There's something you don't hear about every day in square-footage crazy Bel-Air: people taking something down to free up space, rather than cramming another buncha rooms in to fill every available inch of ground.

Anyhoo, thought you might like to know. Feel betta!

Rosco Mare said...

Before the Oriole Way house, Madonna lived in a charming Normandy-style townhouse at the corner of Beachwood and Scenic in Hollywood's Beachwood Canyon.

A funny story: Years later when she lived at Castille del Lago above Lake Hollywood, she removed a drawing from a frame that she didn't like, and smudged it. Art restoration experts, summoned to the house, found the door unlocked and walked in after no one answered the door bell. They were able to remove the smudge, and found Madonna to be quite friendly,

Natural handcrafted soap said...

Madonna make a big profit on that smart material girl =]

lil' gay boy said...

An awful lot of money for a less-than-stunning residence --- isn't it on a flag lot?

Twenty-eight mil worth of claustrophobia, IMHO.

Carla Ridge said...

cher Rosco Mare, darling -- good memory! And before the Beachwood house she had an apartment at the El Royale, which she later passed to her 'Truth or Dare' director Alek Keshishian. Wonder if he's still there? We haven't spoken in over a decade.

Random thought: god help Mama's dyslexic commenters, with these scramble words to "prove you're not a robot" LOL

Ingrid Casares said...

Calm down, L.A. folks...she's selling this house, but she has her beautiful hazel eyes on another one that will make you all rubish for the money amount she's spending on the new place !!
You all shall see...

Anonymous said...

Lovely home. I hope more pictures of the home will surface.
I love the fact that it is off Sunset Blvd. The house is actually far into the driveway, which ensures a lot of privacy. That driveway is looooong.
But $28 mil for a 5000 square ft mansion???
Girl ya must be crazy!
Maybe in England girlfriend, but not in the US of A.
Try again.

Desert Donna said...

Ingrid Dear...spill!! I find it hard to believe Madge needs a sale contingency to buy new...so SPILL ur guts!!

Ingrid Casares said...

Okay, okay, my dear L.A. lovers...Madge is selling this one because this house remembers her a lot from the ex-hubby (an evil man she wants to forget), but she is getting a new one close enough to her long manager's mansion, Guy Oseary on the Brentwood area, how very Hollywood of her !!