Spelling Manor: Most Expensive House in U.S. Finally Sells

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on JUNE 14, 2011


Candy Spelling�widow of TV titan Aaron Spelling and mother of Tori�has been trying to sell her famous 57,000 square-foot mansion in Los Angeles, known as �The Manor,� for years (I first wrote about it in early 2009 when the listing became public).

She refused to budge on her asking price of $150 million, which seemed a little crazy when house prices were falling all around her, but her persistence has apparently paid off. The 22-year old U.K. heiress Petra Ecclestone has reportedly decided to buy the Manor with its (in)famous gift-wrapping room and doll museum.



The whole place is just so freakin� big, I can�t imagine living in it. Candy admitted in one interview that even she wasn�t sure how many bathrooms it has�23? Maybe 26? Something like that.

In this video tour, Candy admits that the house got so big because she didn�t understand the scale of blueprints and thought the original room sizes looked �too small� on paper. She says that Aaron put his foot down and nixed the plans for another huge wing that was going to be built on, or this place would�ve been even bigger.

I think what surprises me most about this is that I can�t imagine a young woman living in this mansion. It looks like an older person�s house to me. Can you picture 22-year old Petra�

�hanging out in this living room?

I can�t. I predict a lot of redecorating in this home�s future. She getting married in August and will be splitting her time between L.A. and London.

Here�s a shot of the famous doll room (taken from this video tour):

And Candy Spelling showing a reporter the breakfast room with the wallpaper and matching upholstery that makes me dizzy:



The house also comes with 3 kitchens, 2 swimming pools, a bowling alley, beauty salon, and parking for 100 cars. The garages should come in handy considering Petra�s dad is British billionaire and Formula One racing boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Candy and her daughter Tori had a falling out after Aaron�s death but have reportedly repaired their relationship. Did you know Tori has a new website with a section devoted to her love of decorating? It�s called EdiTORIal.

Tori is trying to sell some real estate of her own. The house she shares with hubby Dean McDermott and their kids in Encino is on the market.

It�s a much more modest abode than Candy�s, with an asking price of $3.1 million. You can see photos of Tori�s family-friendly home here.

�19 Kids & Counting:� The Duggar Family Home in Arkansas

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on AUGUST 16, 2010

Every Monday I feature the houses from TV shows and movies. Have you seen the reality series 19 Kids & Counting? It follows the Duggar family, which has become famous for having�you guessed it�19 kids (the show was originally called �17 Kids & Counting�). They�ve had two more babies since this photo was taken in 2007 and, as Michelle Duggar says in the show�s opening, �Yes, I delivered them all myself.�

The Great Room has 2,000 square feet and features an open family room, kitchen, and dining area:

The Kitchen:

I keep staring at this photo, trying to figure out how that little girl 1) got up there on the counter, and 2) isn�t going to fall. Must be a stool down there we can�t see?

The dining room table seats 20 and has a beverage center handy (my kids would love if we added one of these to our dining room!):

The large laundry room has four washers and four dryers. Nearby is a giant closet where all of the clothes for the family are stored. Pretty smart idea considering the amount of laundry they must do. The kids have to go to the main closet to get their clothes each day.

Upstairs:

The Boys� Bedroom with 10 beds:

The Girls� Bedroom:

The Playroom:

The family is on the cover of People magazine, in which they say 19 might not be enough, and they�re open to Baby #20:

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have always been open about their willingness to have children. But when the devout Baptists and stars of TLC�s 19 Kids and Counting faced the catastrophic aftereffects of their 19th child�s premature birth, many assumed they might be done.

But now the couple � who only recently brought baby Josie home after being hospitalized for six months as she recovered from a perforated bowel and rare digestive problems � say they are ready to consider a 20th child.

The overhead view as seen on Bing Maps shows how sprawling their property really is (thanks to Kim for the link!):

I don�t watch the show very often, but it fascinates me how organized they are and how they seem to handle so many kids with such calmness and grace. Trust me, if I had 19 children, I would need pharmaceutical assistance in order to smile as much as Michelle does.

You can see the rest of the photos and get more information about the house here: Virtual Fun Zone. (Thanks to Kim for the link!)

Mel Gibson�s Tudor-Style Mansion in Greenwich

According to the Daily Mail, Mel Gibson�s house in Greenwich, Connecticut, just won�t sell. It�s been on the market since 2007, when the price was set at $39.5 million. Two years later, it has been slashed to a paltry $29.75 million. So if you love a good bargain, now�s your chance to snap it up!

�Old Mill Farm� was designed and built by the architect Charles Lewis Bowman in 1926 for a client who loved horses. It has 15 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, with 16,000 square feet.

The grand living room with cathedral ceilings, dark wood-paneled walls, and stained-glass windows:

The house comes with a maze on the property. I love the gate leading to it:

I think I could be perfectly happy living in the charming staff quarters:

The house sits on 77 acres. The grounds and formal gardens were beautifully designed by landscape designer James Doyle.

Gibson has been in the news a lot lately since Robyn, his wife of 28 years and the mother of his 7 children, filed for divorce. Soon after, he announced that he is expecting an 8th with his Russian girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. He said we can now refer to him as �Octo-Dad.� (I�d rather not.)