The rather large residences at the Century Woods are really less like condos and more like mid-sized mansions squeezed on to itty bitty lots where owners share guarded gates, pristine streets, green spaces and a community pool. A community pool? Do any of the children want to take bets on whether Miz Spelling spends any time sitting out by the community pool in a YSL one piece? Anyhoo, let's start with the larger and more expensive of the two condos which are separated by a grassy and landscaped lot that is also available for purchase and can be combined with either of the two other properties.
SELLER: Candy SpellingLOCATION: Century Woods Drive, Century City, CA
PRICE: $7,895,000
SIZE: 8,424 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Very rare opp. to purchase one of the largest homes in Century Woods on dbl. lot! Exquisite Tuscan villa featuring elegant grand scale rooms and dramatic cathedral ceilings w/ quality materials throughout. Formal living/great room opens to pvt. gardens w/ fountains & spa. Elegant library/den, gourmet kitchen. Upstairs has 3 bedrm suites inc. spectacular master w/ 2 luxury baths and office; 2 add. bdrms, elevator, 3 car gar. Adj. lot is also for sale & can be incorporated to create a 22K SF property.
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Property records show that Miz Candy Spelling–whose real name is the much less fun Carole–purchased this 8,424 square foot "Tuscan villa" in April of 2006, just a couple of months before her Hollywood honcho huzband Aaron Spelling went to meet the great executive producer in the sky. Your Mama really has zee-roe idea why Miz Spelling would buy two expensive condos in Century City when she lives only a mile away in a hotel sized house. Perhaps the diamond dripping Miz Spelling purchased this as an investment? Or maybe it was used as uber-dee-luxe staff quarters? Or perhaps this was simply the folly of a very rich ladee, something akin to Marie Antoinette's Petit hameau de la Reine where Candy Darling could escape the queenly confines of her major S. Mapleton Drive mansion, put on a simple print dress from Chicos, work Sudoku puzzles and pretend she still knows what it feels like to live the life of a "poor" rich person who can only afford to own and maintain a huge house as opposed to a gargantuan 55,000 square foot behemoth. We tease.
Listing information reveals that in addition to the 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms which include lavish and large dual bathrooms in the master suite, the free standing 2-story villa includes 3 fireplaces, garaging for three luxury automobiles, 1 elevator–because apparently rich people don't like to exert much energy on their way to bed, a double height living room, a posh paneled library and a gourmet kitchen, a marble and stainless steel extravaganza that Your Mama likes to pretend Miz Spelling has never seen let alone used.
We have no doubt that no expense was spared in whatever improvements and/or renovations Miz Spelling may have done during her brief ownership, and clearly what's here appears to be of good quality even if as a whole it's not to Your Mama's particular taste in interior architecture and day-core. None the less, there are a few notable and impressive features we'd like to point out.
We're completely revolted by the exterior facade that surrounds the living room with it's faux quoins and smoky office park tinted glass. However, from the inside the sky high living room sends shivers of joy up and down our spine. Due to the extreme ceiling height, this will not be an easy room for a nice gay decorator to cozy up, but we're luh-ving the impressively tall windows and the built-in curved banquette where we imagine Miz Spelling liked to sit with her nipped, tucked and exuberantly preserved gurlfriends sipping cocktails and complaining about the nightmare of finding anyone reliable to tie their tennis shooz on Saturday mornings.
The children will note the stunning custom glass doors throughout the house which look like something out of a posh Parisian apartment. It's just a shame that due to the proximity of the other condo/houses, these pleasing panes probably need to be covered up most of time lest the nosy neighbors be able to peep and peer into the boo-dwars and bathrooms. Before we move on, let's not pass by the beautifully paneled and dignified library or the magnificent patterned wood floors in each of the rooms, a bit of floor design joie de vivre that makes Your Mama swoon with envy.
While there are plenty of details to love in Candy Darlings sweet shop, Your Mama still has eyes and let's face it children, the exterior of this condo/house is no architectural prize. Besides, who wants to sit in a square spa that feels like it's been dropped down in the middle of a damn office park? And is it really necessary to do up dual bathrooms with such stereotypical notions of what is male and female design? What if homosexuals or lesbians wanted to buy this house? That's right children, the ladees would have to spend a fortune ripping out the pink bathroom and the queens would have to, well, hmm, we don't really know which bathroom a couple of rich queens would chose to re-do.
Now then, let's move on to the second condo/house in Century Woods that Candy Darling owns and also recently put on the market.
SELLER: Candy SpellingLOCATION: Century Woods Drive, Century City, CA
PRICE: $4,795,000
SIZE: 4,843 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Highly sought after private villa in exclusive Century Woods. Elegant living room, formal dining room, gourmet kitchen/family room built around a romantic sun-filled courtyard. Upstairs 4 bdrms. en suite inc. a spectacular master w/ fireplace, skylights, walk-in closet, balcony & beautiful master bath. Downstairs there is a 5th bdrm. & direct access to a pvt. garage. Wonderful for entertaining. Quality throughout. Adj. lot is for sale & can be incorporated to have property of over 16,000 sq. ft.
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Across the circular drive and beyond the aforementioned grassy flat pad at the front of the Widow Spelling's other condo/house in Century Woods sits this ivy covered and blue shuttered traditional condo/house which property records show Miz Spelling purchased in August of 2006 for an undisclosed sum of money.
Listing information for the 4,843 square foot house indicates there are 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms including 4 en suite set ups on the second floor providing private poopers for the homeowner and several guests. Tucked back into a quiet corner of the condo complex, the fully detached two-story condo/house also features a 2-car garage, two fireplaces, and a central courtyard surrounded by an army of Palladian style French doors. Listing information we received indicated the home owners dues clock in at $2,280. Your Mama presumes that's a monthly charge.
Although the house appears to have been cleared of every stick of furniture, the interiors (and the exterior too) have been done up and did over in what appears to be a French Provincial style with a bright and energetic yellow and white checked floor in the entrance hall, pale yellow cabinetry, acres of floral print curtains and balloon shades of the size and variety that make Your Mama's head spin like a bottle of bad gin. Just look at that giant thing hanging over the tub in the master bathroom looking all mean and menacing. One quick yank of the pull-string and that voluminous curtain could easily gobble up and suffocate a nekkid bather in a sea of $150 per yard Scalamandré.
Interior spaces include long and narrow living and family rooms, each with a wood burning fireplace as well as a long and narrow kitchen that is well appointed with a large Viking range and a butcher block center island. Outdoor spaces include a private balcony off the master bedroom and a pretty tree shaded and quiet courtyard, which is perhaps all the outdoor space required for a west coast pied a terre or for an older person not interested in paying a small fortune every year for lawn care and hedge trimming.
Rumors have long swirled up and down the better streets and boulevards of Bel Air and Bev Hills that the Spelling Mansion is quietly for sale. Not long after Papa Spelling passed it was whispered to Your Mama from someone who said they heard from someone else that the real estate white elephant had been sold to an Arab sheik. That turned out to be nothing but idle gossip, of course. Over the last year or two Your Mama has discreetly asked around, natch, and received nothing but cagey responses from several high brow agents we spoke to. However, that sort of response could easily mean they don't know anything either but would like Your Mama to think they do. Anyhoo, as of today, it appears that Miz Spelling intends to remain a queen in the castle her television king built for her.
We know that daughter Tori wrote a scandalous book that said all sorts of salacious things about Mommy Dearest, but Tor-bear and her huzband Dean are living up in a rental house in Bev Hills while Miz Spelling has these places sitting empty? Seems a little cruel to Your Mama, but then again, we really don't know the torrid details of that (alleged) family feud.
According to property records, other well known owners of luxe Century Woods condos include octogenarian insult comic Don Rickles and multi millionaire media heir Wallis Annenberg.
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