Those of the children who have been hanging around awhile know that Your Mama has a bit of a thing for the saga of reclusive and mysterious American heiress Huguette Clark.
Miz Clark, for those of you kids who find her name foreign, was born into a copper and mining fortune, raised in splendor in Montana and New York City mansions, educated abroad and ultimately left with a staggering fortune estimated to be around half a billion bucks. For decades Miz Clark has lived not in one of her several monstrous high-maintenance residences around the country but in near seclusion in an unmarked hospital room at New York City's Beth Israel Medical Center.
Bellosguardo, her hulking multi-winged 21,666 square foot mansion in Santa Barbara has not, it is said, been visited in 40 or 50 years. An 52-acre estate in New Canaan, CT was expanded and remodeled after purchasing in 1952 but never occupied by the mysterious lady of the house. For decades, while she languished in an ordinary hospital room, her luxurious full-floor prairie-like spread on New York's Fifth Avenue–plus the half-floor apartment a few floors above–were kept spotless and ready for her return.
But alas, Miz Clark was not to return. The elusive heiress, bless her secretive heart, finally went to meet her maker this week at the ripe old age of 104.
What will happen now to Miz Clark's considerable wealth, which includes but is not limited to considerable cash reserves, an art collection and a real estate portfolio easily worth well in excess of a hundred million clams, remains to be seen. Some worry the old bird was surrounded by a couple of money grubbing charlatans the last couple of decades who may have acted in their own best self-interest and kept the few distant relatives Miz Clark does have at a considerable distance. Any relatives over the last few dozen years who attempted to contact or visit Miz Clark were reportedly rebuffed and rudely rejected. The advisers, an attorney (Wallace "Wally" Bock) and an accountant (Irving H. Kamsler), both have sordid pasts and have been been under investigation for elder abuse and their handling–or mishandling–of Miz Clark's financial affairs.
All interested parties in Miz Clarks affairs wait now for the reading of her last will and testament and any codicils that may have been attached. No doubt her estate will be in dispute for years while her most recent aides and advisers attempt to lay claim to some part, if not all, of her assets while the distant relatives and district attorney try to sort out the the whatnots and wherefores of how Miz Clark really wanted her fortune dispersed.
'Tis a fascinating story, butter beans, and one told in great length and detail by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Bill Dedman over at msnbc.com. A long list of Mister Dedman's articles on the matter can be found here.
Manly Actor Jason Statham Lists Mid-Century Modern
SELLER: Jason StahamLOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,749,000
SIZE: 2,281 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Your Mama first discussed butch British actor Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, The Italian Job, 13, Blitz) and his Tinseltown real estate doings during the summer of 2009 when he listed a 2,140 square foot condo at the Broadway Hollywood building with an asking price of $1,395,000. The hunky and humpy movie star has only purchased the 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom condo two years earlier for, according to property records, $1,543,500. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus reveals that Mister Statham was looking at a real estate bang to his bank accounts of almost $150,000, not counting real estate fees. However, as far as Your Mama can tell, Mister Statham continues to own the condo–which had a disco ball hanging from the ceiling in the living room–and it is no longer listed on the open market.
At about the same time Mister Statham first listed his unwanted condo at the Broadway Hollywood, he went trés Hollywood real estate-wise and splashed out a celebrity-style $10,950,000 for a contemporary wood and glass ocean front residence inside the guarded gates of the illustrious and star-choked Malibu Colony.
As mentioned in previous our discussions, in addition to the condo in Hollywood and the new beach house in the Bu, Mister Statham has long owned a risqué mid-century modern in the hills just above the bustling Sunset Plaza area on the Sunset Strip. Property records reveal that Mister Statham acquired the glassy 1957 single-story contemporary in June of 2004 when he coughed up $2,400,000 for the modestly sized but gigantically sultry 2,281 square foot residence.
Just prior to moving on up to the hills above West Hollywood, the accomplished springboard diver turned black market salesman turned fashion model turned well-compensated actor sold a small Spanish-style casa near Runyon Canyon in Hollywood for $1,310,000. He had purchased the house for $650,000 back in May 2002 with former model/actress lady-friend Kelly Brook (née Parsons).
Listing information for Mister Statham's restored and upgraded post and beam shows it contains 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and an open plan main living area with full walls of floor-to-ceiling glass panels that confuse the distinction between inside and outside and create a flirtatious and exhilarating structure that is perhaps a peeping tom's most satisfying real estate fantasy.
The living room has a fireplace, a white and clean-lined sectional sofa and a full wall of glass panels with a view of the walled and high-hedged front garden where the swimming pool is located. Yes, puppies, the swimming pool at Mister Statham's house in the hills, wee as it is, is in the front yard.
Entire walls of glass throughout the house create a startling and edgy transparency and allow a person to see all the way from the master bedroom, across an exterior courtyard, through the living room and beyond the back wall of the front garden where, as aforementioned, the swimming pool is located. This level of translucence is certainly fearless and spine-tingling but it also pushes the borders of personal privacy to its absolute limits of comfort in a way that many people might find off-putting and perhaps even frightening.
Interior spaces include a bedroom converted to a library/office with two full walls of built-in–and mostly empty–bookcases and a formal dining area with concrete block pony wall accent that lends the ethereal space a much-needed architectural grounding. The sleek galley-style kitchen has rich black counter tops—that Your Mama hopes and prays is soap stone rather than granite–and shiny flat-fronted cabinets that look to Your Mama like cherry wood but may very well be mahogany or some other material altogether. The kitchen is open to a family room area that Mister Statham has furnished with very masculine black leather sofas and a glass and chrome coffee table that altogether project the vibe of the waiting room of an expensive dentist, the sort of chomper fixer that does not under any circumstances accept insurance.
Concrete walls and towering hedges surround the property, which is a good damn thing when you spend a moment to consider the master pooper. Floor to ceiling and wall to wall glazing on the back wall of the shower obliterates any visual distinction between inside and outside. The thin sheet of clear glass that separates the shower space from the terliting and toothbrushing area adds another pulse-quickening layer of transparency to the smallish but nicely-equipped and clean-lined bathroom. This multi-layered transparency feels very "modern" and deliciously racy until the day you're doing your thing in the shower with Florence + The Machine working their musical magic on the iPod and Gabriel the Gardener unexpectedly works his weed whacker around the side of the house and right alongside the humongous window in the shower.
Anyhoo, outdoor space at Mister Statham's crib appear to be somewhat limited due to it being slammed up against a steep hillside at the back of house. A contemplative if not exactly private glass-wrapped courtyard is sandwiched between the living, dining and master bed rooms and the front garden, the largest outdoor area, has a trellis-like structural element that arcs over the plunge-size swimming pool. A petite poolside terrace provides a sun-dappled spot to lounge poolside with a stack of gossip glossies, a bag of penny candy and a pitcher of ice cold gin & tonics.
Since Your Mama knows not Mister Statham nor anyone who knows Mister Statham we can't say whether the hairy-chested British beau-hunk will purchase another Los Angeles home base or if he plans to decamp full-time to his ten-plus million dollar house in Malibu and use his condo at the Broadway Hollywood as an in-town pied a terre. That said, iffin Your Mama were the betting type–and we most certainly are not–we'd wager everything we own that if Mister Statham were to snag another house in Lala Land he would gravitate towards and pay big bucks for a modestly sized if horrifically expensive and architecturally sophisticated abode.
UPDATE: We now hear from The Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Address Aerial that the British tab The Daily Mail reported in mid-February 2011 that Mister Statham is in the process of custom building a house in the hills above Beverly Hills, next door to the magnificent John Lautner-designed Goldstein House and, reportedly, just a few hundred yards as the crow flies from a house his ex-lady-friend Kelly Brook recently leased.
Interestingly the article in The Daily Mail shows Mister Statham and his current gal pal–Victoria Secret brar-and-panty model Rosie Huntington-Whitely–touring the construction site with none other that James Goldstein, the Goldstein of the Goldstein House next door. Also inneresting, property records we peeped still show the parcel where Mister Statham is (allegedly) erecting his dream house to still be in the name of said Mister Goldstein. So, puppies, make of that what you will because there seems to be some confusion amongst real estate gossips as to what Mister Statham's real estate story as it pertains to this house in Bev Hills really is.
listing information: Keller Williams
Elizabeth Taylor's Long Time Crib Officially Listed
Last week Your Mama briefly mentioned that recently deceased Dame Elizabeth Taylor's long-time Los Angeles mansion–in a particularly posh section of Bel Air–had been hoisted on the market with an asking price of $8,600,000.At that time an interweb listing for the approximately 7,000 square foot two-story ranch was not available. Now it is.
Listing information for the 1.27 acre estate reveals that the gated driveway sweeps past a guard house–manned by Israeli security personnel according to an article in the June 2011 issue of Vanity Fair–to a stone-paved motor court where, in one of the listing photos, the late Miz Taylor's big ol' Maybach can be see parked in front of the front-facing garage.
Inside the large but architecturally modest mansion violet-eyed Miz Taylor lived in cozy but billionaire-style splendor surrounded by antique Aubusson rugs, a lifetime of showbiz memorabilia and a blue chip art collection that includes works by impressionist mac-daddies like Van Gogh, Modigliani, Pissarro and Manet. Miz Taylor's family–a hodgepodge quartet of children from three of her seven husbands, 10 grandchildren and a handful of great-grandchildren–oft gathered for holidays and family events at the sprawling manse that includes a living room with fireplace and beamed ceiling, dining room, and additional sitting room, a galley-style country kitchen and home office converted from what was once a screening room.
There are two family bedrooms with garden access on the main floor, plus a master suite and staff quarters. The second floor has two more smaller family bedrooms plus Miz Taylor's private boo-dwar, comprised of bedroom with sitting area wrapped in lavender fabric, a private bathroom and an adjacent dressing room/beauty salon where Miz Taylor's devoted cadre of mostly gay minions would do her up pretty for her increasingly rare public appearances and occasional trips to gay watering holes like The Abbey in West Hollywood.
The perfectly groomed grounds and terraced gardens include a sparkly mosaic tile-lined swimming pool, small greenhouse for orchid cultivation, rose gardens, more gardens filled with gardenias, lilies of the valley and birds of paradise, a koi pod with waterfall and a secret bamboo jungle.
listing photos: Teles Properties
Norwood Young Lists Hancock Park Hot Mess
SELLER: Norwood YoungLOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,400,000
SIZE: 4,832 square feet, 7 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Like Lady Gaga–whose Born This Way album drops today–Your Mama is Speechless over the Los Angeles home of some R&B singer we've never heard of named Norwood Young. Well, okay, not speechless but certainly slack-jawed and all bent out of shape about.
Mister Young, according to previous reports and property records, purchased his residential white elephant on a busy corner in the uppity Hancock Park neighborhood–which he rather grandiosely named Youngwood Court–way back in 1997 for $1,200,000. The 7 bedroom and 7 bathroom house recently hit the market with an asking price of $2,400,000.
As our Dallas, TX-based real estate gossip pal Candy Evans (Second Shelters) always says, "God don't like ugly."
We say, "Amen, sister amen" to that but somebody didn't give Mister Norwood the message.
Your Mama doesn't know whether we're more decoratively mortified by the faux poodles sitting at the bottom of the white-carpeted staircase in the marble-floored entrance hall or the trio of round glass tables in the dining room curiously and stupidly held aloft by ropes secured at the ceiling.
Perhaps the apple cart of our delicate sensibilities might be most upset by the the small army of David statue replicas that line the circular drive or maybe it's silly mural of Mister Norwood himself painted on the wall behind the swimming pool.
Listen, children, no one gets behind a highly-personalized day-core more than Your Mama. However, there are limits to our generosity, particularly when it comes to carpeted master bathrooms and especially when said poopers are outfitted like Mister Norwood's with a got-damn circular, sunken, jetted and gold-toned bathtub.
A short list of the home's other features, according to listing information and marketing materials, include a paneled media room, glammy guest house and a raised backyard stage for impromptu performances during backyard barbecues.
As a little added bonus for the children, we've linked over to a few photos of Mister Young posing like a wannabe supermodel in front of his house, some of which were obviously snapped during the 2007-08 holidays. Have mercy! A white overcoat with fur shawl-collar and cuffs? Bitch, pleeze. But then again, what sort of sartorial statement should we expect from a man with a white baby grand piano and a pair of over-sized all-white Chippendale-style chairs that make the "formal" living room look and feel like a damn dollhouse.
listing photos: LBC Realty
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