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
