If you had to describe what typifies L.A. architecture, what would you say? Is it the white-walled, red-tile-roof Spanish Colonial style that springs to mind? The neo-Georgian mansions of Bel Air or the old-school pomp and glamor of Hollywood Regency? Or maybe you feel it’s Mid-century Modern, Art Deco or even the futuristic post-war experiment known as Googie that has had the greatest impact on the Californian city’s streetscape.
In this vast, sprawling melting pot of a metropolis, it’s as hard to agree on a definitive architectural vernacular as it is to meet a waiter who doesn’t harbor movie-star ambitions. Yet there’s one style, argues Lea Porter, one of LA’s most prolific realtors (she has closed more than $400m worth of real estate deals in the last 2.5 years), that now dominates all levels of the market up to $70m mansions. And that’s cookie cutter.
Even though prices in the best-known neighborhoods where A-listers congregate are now “outrageously expensive,” says Porter, citing average values of $3,000+ per square foot, “bland bling” rules the roost. Developers, she says, have jumped on the bandwagon and are building identikit homes of anonymous uniformity. “If you didn’t know your own address, you could easily walk into the house next door and not realize it’s not yours,” says Porter, who sighs at the proliferation of “IKEA-modern farmhouses” across the city.
Now imagine the screech of a needle being dragged across vinyl, then swivel 180 degrees to think of the exact opposite. First head out of the usual Westside zip codes that attract the rich and famous to a more under-the-radar spot just under an hour’s drive south of Los Angeles.
Palos Verdes: high-end, not high-profile
Palos Verdes Estates, a once sleepy family neighborhood, has seen its popularity soar since the pandemic as buyers have moved to this area of the South Bay for more space (this is the place for large estates), security (it has its own police department) and—a rare thing in the L.A. hills—walkability, along wide boulevards to local restaurants and shops.
It’s high-end, but not high-profile. Doctors and lawyers live here but not celebrities basking in the limelight. “People want peace and quiet, places that are out of the way. Palos Verdes is that neighborhood,” says Porter. And, she adds, “nothing is cookie cutter once you get into the hills.”
With that context in mind, picture a house that has torn up the recipe entirely. A vast nearly 12,000-square-foot mansion that’s Tuscan palazzo from the outside, palatial Parisian inside. A mansion built with no cap on the time taken or budget spent. And a house in which every single element—from the intricately laid marble floors to every last piece of furniture—is custom-made.
1901 Paseo del Sol—on the market for $17.9m through Beverly Hills brokerage Hilton & Hyland—took its owners, the healthcare tycoon Dr. Vinod Jivrajka and his wife Jayashree, seven years to build, reaching completion in 2017. No one is revealing the cost, but you need only take a peek at the impeccably symmetrical entrance hall with its cathedral-like proportions and double marble staircases that curve around ornate ironwork to see that no expense has been spared.
“To recreate this now would be astronomical,” says Porter. “In today’s building dollars, it would be unrealistic in terms of price. It’s one of the most intricately beautiful houses I’ve ever seen.”
A Queen’s Necklace gem
We should start with the view, though, as that’s where its owners began. Palos Verdes is the final jewel in the Queen’s Necklace, the coastline that sweeps from here to Malibu in the north and forms a necklace of lights when illuminated at night.
As residents of Palos Verdes for decades, the Jivrajkas waited until the perfect site became available so they could design their no-holds-barred, opulent home. The neighborhood’s largest mansions rarely come on the market, says Ram Handa, the Hilton & Hyland broker who co-holds the listing with Porter. “They are off-market trophies that, once they sell, won’t be available again for 60 years,” he comments.
This particular 38,600 sq ft lot—designed for families, with entertainment terraces, lawns, hiking trails for kids and a dog park—also claims the almost unheard-of triptych of being wide, deep and perched on a promontory that offers up bird’s-eye views over the entire L.A. basin.
“The ocean view from the living room,” says Handa, who grew up in Palos Verdes, “is what I dreamt of for 25 years.” Porter puts the views in her top five in Los Angeles County, on a par with Montecito—only you’d pay $50m for a property like this in that starry enclave.
The seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom property couldn’t be further from cookie cutter, either: exceptional attention to detail has been lavished on every bespoke feature. It’s no surprise it took seven years to build. Its owners traveled the world to source artisans, materials and furnishings, from one-off Murano-glass chandeliers from Italy to hand-crafted wooden objects from India.
Most people—even Bel Air’s multi-millionaires—play safe with their marble choices, according to Porter: it’s black, gray or white. In this house, there’s a rarely seen pale blue, in the office’s ensuite bathroom.
No corner-cutting, no compromise
And that’s another way in which this self-build bucks the trend, she adds. Many people will cut corners in some places in order to splash out in others. They use expensive marble in the spaces used by family and friends, then opt for a more economical solution in the rooms for kids and staff. “It’s how people bring things in on budget. You’re gonna fudge,” Porter comments. “Here, the same quality of marble and flooring is used throughout. There’s no compromise.”
There is one, perhaps. Mr. and Mrs. Jivrajka are now selling what was designed as their forever home after their offspring and grandchildren have flown the nest to West L.A.—so they’re doing the same.
This is no downsizing story, though. Their new home is a 25,000-square-foot neo-classical mansion set on 1.5 acres in Holmby Hills—a $34.5m purchase also steered by Ram Handa. The estate is already a movie star in its own right, having featured in the TV mini-series The Dropout. But it’s certain to be a given a meticulous, custom-designed makeover by the Jivrajkas, without a cookie cutter in sight.
Hilton and Hyland is a founding partner of Forbes Global Properties, an invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
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