Inside a $195 Million Bel Air Estate With Secret Tunnels | On the Market | Architectural Digest

[Music] welcome to Chartwell one of the most incredible iconic properties in all of Los Angeles if not all of California its situated on 10.4 acres with views from downtown Los Angeles all the way to the Pacific Ocean the estate features an authentic French chateau with six bedrooms and 13 baths complete with Canyon trails and golf cart paths the secret tunnels the pool and pool house the tennis court the French gardens the garden pavilion the redwood grove a 40 car motor gallery the 12,000 bottle wine cellar the koi pond stream and to top it all off a five bedroom Wallace Neff guesthouse this is one-of-a-kind in so many ways but it will also be nearly impossible to ever put four contiguous properties together like this in the heart of bel-air it's priced at 195 million dollars come on in check it out this home was built in 1930 and the late Jerry Parr NGO bought it in 1986 he shortly thereafter purchased three contiguous Lots amassing 10.4 acres which is completely unheard of and probably never to be duplicated again when you drive up Bel Air Road you come to the most amazing stone wall that has these gorgeous lollipop trees in front of them this estate has four tenths of a mile of street frontage Playboy Mansion half that spelling Manor half that bordering the front lawns of Chartwell are these phenomenal carob trees that have been pleats to give this continuous shape effect arriving at the front of the house you might recognize it from the iconic TV show The Beverly Hillbillies this house is 25,000 square feet and completely symmetrical in nature mr. Parenti Oh wanted to create an authentic replica of an 18th century Chateau and in doing so he reconfigured the entire interior the only thing that was left standing were the four outer walls he brought in a team of French experts he brought in interior designer Andre Samuel and it took them five years to complete this work they did everything including the roof and now we've arrived in the foyer a an elegant sophisticated space with beautiful staircases limestone and black marble flooring that enters right into the main salon presidents ambassador's foreign dignitaries all would come enter through the foyer into the main salon the Parque de Versailles flooring was shipped in from Europe its 18th century and it took the French artisans three months to install and from here we're heading to the dining room this dining room seats 24 people but what's incredible about this room are the panels they're hand-carved at a pine 18th century these were commissioned for the Prime Minister of England then restored shipped here and attached and if you look closely at these wood instruments you'll see strings on the staff would bring in food during an event from the kitchen that's located in this particular wing there's five kitchens on the estate come on let's go downstairs and now we're at the bar I feel like I'm in one of the Harry's bars anywhere around the world the bar is made of maple television pops up and back with all the people that have visited this house during all the entertaining events if the walls could speak they would tell incredible stories coming down from the bar into the living room area that transitions into a ballroom this ballroom also doubles as a screening room as well the panels slide open revealing huge speakers and at the push of a button the screen comes down is it like that at your house because it's not like that at mine and over there mr. Parenti Oh loved to entertain he would have legendary musicians who played at sold-out arenas around the world grace this very stage the room would be completely cleared out emptied of furniture emptied of antiques and then tables would be set up for dining guests would eat they would drink and listen to incredible artists play and through these double doors guests could just step out and enjoy the view fabulous lawns grand fountain the redwood trees truly an incredible space to entertain and on in this estate is a phenomenal Rose Garden to the left and to the right a beautiful veggie garden as well let me take you down one of these cascades trust me you've never seen anything like it mr. pranchi Oh hired French architects to create this phenomenal landscape effect with these water fountains cascading down during the renovation he brought in 22,000 trees and plants onto the grounds seeing it in the daytime is one thing singing at night something completely else and here we arrive at the grand fountain huge in size and when you look up at the facade of the home you see the symmetry and the beautiful pleats trees along the side and if you notice these four statues they represent the four seasons and on the other end you have a matching cascading water fountain symmetry at its best I'm sure that's a serious sliding hill if we had any snow don't get any ideas let me take you to see the pool and look at this look at the hedges again pleats manicured beautifully and it's like a maze leading you to the next destination which is the pool welcome to the swimming pool area there's a 75 foot length swimming pool and a pool house as well tons of parties were held here during a birthday party they had a swimming competition right before the starting gun went off one of the competitors pulled out and asked for a replacement out of the tunnel walked Michael Phelps needless to say anyone who swam that day didn't get higher than a silver medal an amazing space so large in nature cascading rock garden that leads you to the pool area and it leads you to this beautiful indoor/outdoor pool house you have a round bar over here and a great hangout area it has a full kitchen and you got to come see this come on nothing like a full locker room there's a men's and a woman's you can bring all your things here put them in the lockers go swim hang out come back afterwards change in shower not necessarily in that order and these are the secret underground tunnels that lead you from the pool to the house to the outer walking grounds they were built back in the 1930s by the original owner Lynne Atkinson who was a renowned civil engineer and the echo is wild come on it look at these finished walls even with the lighting inside it's so magnificent luciano pavarotti used to visit Chartwell quite often any used to love to come down into these tunnels and practice singing because of the acoustics and the echo hello and now we've come to the elevator and the elevator goes from this level which is the lowest level all the way up one two and three you can come from your master bedroom right down here you can either go to the pool where we just came from or out to the walking trails where we're going now and if you listen closely you can hear the birds chirping which echo throughout the tunnels wait till you see this we call this the Giants head it was first seen by one of the landscape architects over in Italy and this is a replica it's made out of paper mache wiring and a concrete type mixture coming out of this side of the tunnel leads you to the canyon portion of the property try to keep up and listen to those rollin streams with its koi ponds hiking trails it doesn't even feel like you're in the middle of bel-air this is truly what makes this property one-of-a-kind here is one of the three koi ponds on the property that run all the way down the canyon with water that's circulating 24 hours a day and now we're going to head up to the garden pavilion and here's the entrance to the Grand Garden pavilion this area and this structure is great for entertaining seating and standing room up above as well as down below come into this hidden staircase cave it leads you up to the top of the pavilion the view is incredible in that direction is the helipad and over there is the barbecue area with its own restroom as well let's go back down hop in the cart I want to show you something else this is the path that wraps around the back of the main house and now we're arriving at the redwood grove look at these majestic trees it is magical out here and it transports you to somewhere else in the world these trees were planted back in the 1930s and they're roughly a hundred years old where do you find this in Southern California where do you find this in Los Angeles I'll tell you where nowhere except on chart well welcome to the tennis pavilion with its north south facing championship sized tennis court viewing pavilion and double umpire stands music to my ears the paths are now taking us to the guest house this is the Wallace Neff guesthouse built in 1931 it's a Spanish Revival home and it's one of the three contiguous properties that mr. prenta purchased right after buying Chartwell estate he incorporated this one into the grounds as it was its own private estate at the time come on in and in the guest house there are five bedrooms six baths a beautiful round circular dining room a vintage elevator over here luciano pavarotti used to love coming to the property and this is exactly where he would stay what a wonderful room yep this one works too thanks for all the rides now we're in the car gallery it holds 40 cars it's truly a collector's dream and right off the car gallery as we enter the house we have the wine cellar come no wine cellar is worth its weight in gold unless you have a wine tasting room right outside of it which of course this one does but to really see what's going on come on inside this wine cellar holds 12,000 bottles of wine that's right 12,000 bottles of wine during one of the showings there was a gentleman who was standing right here and he was looking up and he said ah this makes sense we said what are you talking about he said I have been looking for this wine for 15 years couldn't find looked all over the world the entire world supply is right here we went oh my god all the bottles of wine were sold making millions of dollars and it was all given to charity follow me into the elevator let's go back up to the main floor the Chartwell estate so vast we like to say when living here you are your closest neighbor you've been around you been on the golf cart throughout the grounds the pools the tennis court really what else do you need and this can all be yours for one hundred and ninety five million dollars

Channel: Architectural Digest

Views: 10,698,331

Rating: 4.8631048 out of 5

Keywords: home tour, home tours, on the market, mansion, mansions, expensive homes, luxury home, luxury homes, house tour, house tours, chateau tour, mansion tour, chartwell estate, luxury garden, luxury pool, los angeles mansion, most expensive house, french garden, los angeles home tour, inside la mansion, inside mansions, 195 million dollar house, million dollar home, million dollar listing, bel air, bel air estate, bel air mansion, bel air home tour, architectural digest

Id: nQEOK8I-Czc

Length: 13min 12sec (792 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 04 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/then-Or-than]

Here is a slightly less annoying video of the mansion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RijvlCQUjXk

and a real estate listing:

https://www.priceypads.com/historic-c-1935-chartwell-estate-lists-in-los-angeles-ca-for-245m-photos/

[u/Kakizaki]

Usually LA mansions look tacky, despite their high price.

But this mansion is a thing of beauty.

[u/nodnodwinkwink]

Previous owner was Jerry Perenchio (billionaire business man): https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/business/jerry-perenchio-dead-hollywood-promoter.html

Interesting point about water usage: ""His compound of lawns, formal gardens, woodlands and vineyards would require at least 6.1 million gallons of water per year" – making him part of a group of "mega-water users" in arid Southern California, whose water consumption became a political issue as a result of drought and global warming."

[u/kingofallwinners]

Swimmin' pools. Movie stars.

[u/BlooperWeel]

Damn, Ive always wanted a completely symmetrical house.

[u/masego_mashishi98]

It is beautiful wish to live there