The unsellable estate finally finds a buyer! Bel Air's very own Palace of Versailles sells for $102 MILLION after seven years on the market... and the new owner is a 'mystery French billionaire'
- The Fleur de Lys estate in Bel Air has become the most expensive home ever sold in LA
- Seven years after it was first put on the market - and with the asking price reduced by $23 million - the property has been sold to a 'highly secretive French billionaire'
- The 50,000-sq-ft mansion was custom built in 2002 by socialite Suzanne Saperstein and her then husband, Texan billionaire David Saperstein
- As well as 12 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms, the mansion contains a 50-seat, satin-lined private cinema, a two-storey wood-paneled library stocked with first-edition books and garage parking for nine cars
Three billionaires reportedly engaged in a bidding war for the nearly five-acre trophy estate, the winner closing in 10 days in an all-cash deal that included antique furnishings.
The 50,000-square-foot residence was sold by socialite Suzanne Saperstein, who had the mansion custom built in 2002 with her then husband, Texan billionaire David Saperstein.
After years on and off the market, the
'unsellable' Fleur de Lys estate in L.A. has finally found a buyer and
at $102 million has become the most expensive home ever sold in Los
Angeles County
The gilded ballroom features mirror-clad arches
based on those in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, as
well as impressive chandeliers and a ceiling fresco
The 50,000-square-foot residence was sold by
socialite Suzanne Saperstein, who had the mansion custom built in 2002
with her then husband, Texan billionaire David Saperstein
They divorced three years after work was finished, and she first listed property at $125 million in 2007 just as the global economic downturn was taking hold.
Since then the property has been off and on the market and Mrs Saperstein even dropped her price.
It has 12 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a ballroom, two kitchens, a massive movie theater, a pool, tennis courts, and a nine-car garage.
The buyer’s name remains a mystery as it isn’t on the deed, although it is rumored to be a ‘highly secretive French billionaire,’ reports the LA Times.
However the sale does not top the U.S. record set last year when a mansion on nine acres in the Northern California community of Woodside went for $117.5 million.
That deal's buyer and seller were business partners and may have included other considerations.
Three billionaires reportedly engaged in a
bidding war for the nearly five-acre trophy estate, the winner closing
in 10 days in an all-cash deal that included antique furnishings
The Sapersteins divorced three years after work
was finished, and Suzanne first listed the property at $125 million in
2007 just as the global economic downturn was taking hold
As well as its 12 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms, the mansion contains a 50-seat, satin-lined private cinema
The five-acre estate in the Holmby Hills in Bel
Air, Los Angeles, was modeled on Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles – and
certainly contains all the opulent luxuries a modern-day prince could
demand including a two-storey wood-paneled library stocked with
first-edition books, top
The five-acre estate in the Holmby Hills in Bel Air, Los Angeles, was modeled on Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles – and certainly contains all the opulent luxuries a modern-day prince could demand.
As well as its 12 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms, the mansion contains a 50-seat, satin-lined private cinema, a two-storey wood-paneled library stocked with first-edition books and garage parking for nine cars.
Not to mention a gym, a ballroom based on Louis XIV’s Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and a formal dining room.
Italian marble walls, French limestone floors and gold-embossed leather wall coverings all add to the decadent feel.
Outside the property boasts a spa pool with its own kitchen, an ornamental garden, a 1,200-metre running track, a championship tennis court and a folly – plus private quarters to house up to ten live-in domestic staff.
The property has 12 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a
ballroom, two kitchens, a massive movie theater, a pool, tennis courts,
and a nine-car garage
Italian marble walls, French limestone floors and gold-embossed leather wall coverings all add to the decadent feel
Tucked away behind gates and a 200-yard driveway, the property was commissioned in 1996 by Texan billionaire David Saperstein for his wife Suzanne.
It was completed in 2002 – but less than two years later the couple’s 23-year marriage collapsed.
Mrs Saperstein was awarded the estate in the divorce, and put it on the market in 2007 for $125 million.
Saperstein, who made his fortune developing the idea of using helicopters to provide up-to-date traffic reports, left Suzanne in 2003 for Hillevi Svensson, the family’s 32-year-old Swedish nanny.
The divorce, one of the most expensive in US history, came after Saperstein served his wife with divorce papers as the family’s Gulfstream IV made a stopover in Houston en route from California to Europe.
The reason was Texas is thought to be more sympathetic to men than California when it comes to alimony settlements.
Mrs Saperstein was once described in a Vanity Fair profile as ‘probably the world’s No 1 consumer of haute couture and 18th Century furniture’ – rumored to buy matching designer sweaters and shoes in every color available.
David and Suzanne Saperstein's divorce was one
of the most expensive in US history, he served his wife with divorce
papers as the family’s Gulfstream IV made a stopover in Houston en route
from California to Europe
Outside the property boasts a spa pool with its
own kitchen, an ornamental garden, a 1,200-metre running track, a
championship tennis court and a folly ¿ plus private quarters to house
up to ten live-in domestic staff
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