Hot off the presses from Forbes comes word of an exclusive listing in Chatsworth. Article titled The $12 Million Frank Sinatra Estate Where Marilyn Monroe Rendezvoused With Jack Kennedy by Morgan Brennan, say that the Chatsworth, CA estate, known simply as Farralone, is the first time publicly listed for sale. Coldwell Banker Previews International will represent the listing, priced at $12 million.
The estate was commissioned by Dora Hutchison, the heiress to the Chase Manhattan Bank fortune. It was completed in 1951 by Pereira & Luckman, the architects most famous for building this residence, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Kennedy Center, The Transamerica Pyramid building in San Francisco and the master plan for the City of Beverly Hills. Once completed in 1951, the wealthy socialite used the house to throw massive who’s who parties for Hollywood, hosting the A-list likes of Lucille Ball and Ava Gardner, and shooting off fireworks to signal Happy Hour to her neighbors.
After Hutchinson moved to New York, she rented the estate to Frank Sinatra for almost a decade . During that time Marilyn Monroe resided in the guesthouse and had her last photo shoot there as well as the infamous rendezvous with Jack Kennedy.
The 10,000 sq. ft. main estate, surrounded by two acres of rolling lawn, is up a long, winding private road on 5.5 acres. It includes 4 bedrooms/5.5 baths, a grand gallery and three lower level private offices complete with a conference room. The one bedroom/1.5 bath guest house is 1,000 sq. ft. with its own pool. A detached gym is located adjacent to the stunning 50 ft. pool.
A 9.5 acre section, out of site from the residence, has a tentative tract map divided into 13 lots and is currently used as a vineyard with horse riding trails. In addition to the large motor court there is parking for 200 cars.
Forbes says that the current owners have updated, restored and decorated the living space to embody that time period. According to the listing agent, the house makes bundles as a filming location, as much as $2 million a year, and even comes with its own property manager who deals with and is paid for by the studios. Television and movie watchers may find its pools and glass walls familiar as the house has hosted oodles of location shoots for films like Swordfish, Dreamgirls and Ali and TV shows like Mad Men, Californication, and next year’s Savages series from Oliver Stone. Usher’s Burn music video was shot in the pool as well.
Lynn Teschner, a Coldwell Banker Previews International Realtor and Farralone’s listing agent, suspects that Farralone has the potential to sell quickly, likening its appeal to the Walt Disney estate in Los Feliz, CA, which sold after one week on the market earlier this year. [Farralone Estate]