The Million Dollar room.

DaveyF · Jun 5, 2013

I happened to be in an ocean front home today that is on the market for sale in La Jolla. This home is priced at $22.9M

It is one of the VERY few homes that I have been in that featured a high-end system and room that was built by the owner as part of the property at the time of the original construction. He was a well known Hollywood personality who also happened to be an a'phile (Unfortunately, he is no longer with us). The room ( primarily for home theater) was constructed at the time for $1M and features a separate re-enforced slab to the main house. It was built by Disney contractors and is based around Pipe Dream speakers with at least eight (8) depth charges. The largest Pipe Dreams are at the front and a second pair are built into a recess in the rear wall for surround sound. ( a separate smaller room off of this room houses the equipment)

Sorry about the pic, but it was the best I could do given the lighting and my iphone camera.
Anyway, to reproduce this room today, which is at least 8 or 9 years old, would be far in excess of $1M given the location. Sometimes, as I have said before, the room can be the most expensive component.....By far

NorthStar · Jun 5, 2013

Too bad Davey that you didn't bring a 'real' camera to take more pics (in & out), with views (ocean). :b

Dimfer · Jun 5, 2013

just a coincidence - I just got back to our room from a dinner with Mark Porzilli, the designer of Pipe Dreams

. We talked about Pipe Dreams, Scaenas and the new one he is working on.

DaveyF · Jun 5, 2013

NorthStar said:
Too bad Davey that you didn't bring a 'real' camera to take more pics (in & out), with views (ocean). :b

I know, Bob. This pic does not do the room justice at all. The room is probably 25 wide by 30 feet deep with a 20+ foot ceiling. The walls are curved mahogany and are designed as reflection/trapping. The ceiling is
also designed as reflection control.
Dimfer, I would suspect that this gent was one of Mark Porzilli's best customer's in the past

The property is pretty special also.... a three acre ocean front lot with spectacular coastal views. The main house is appx 15K SqFt and there are two guest houses each with their own maids quarters, etc. The property is gated and has a front gate house. Truly not a bad pad

Roger Dressler · Jun 6, 2013

Here's a better picture. Rest of this fabulous house can be seen here.

picture-uh=b8d5cc827263ecadc67e49d7bc6d2049-ps=5ff16a9acb69e75d1d68564a13fe9b.jpg

Bill Hart · Jun 6, 2013

It looks like a nice room, mainly, as you indicated, for HT. I've seen countless high end homes over the years and while some boast over the top media or home theatre rooms, very, very few contain serious two channel gear/listening rooms. My point- our hobby is a very narrow niche. And it has nothing to do with money at that level. Garages with lifts, laundry rooms with liquor bars and views, even the infamous 'gift wrapping room' in the Spelling mansion, all 'hobbyist' pursuits.
My NY house is currently on the market. While I am not there for showings, the broker tells me that many people who have seen the listening room just don't know what to make of it- having never seen a room dedicated to a big turntable, tube amps and horns, among shelves and shelves of vinyl records and antiquarian tube gear and old aeroplane and car parts.
PS- looked at the listing- fabulous setting, the facade reminds me a little of those FLW 'Mayan' houses-
Looks like a significant price reduction too, however he bought the place for 4.9 M in 1995, so 22 M ain't a bad return.

MylesBAstor · Jun 6, 2013

whart said:
It looks like a nice room, mainly, as you indicated, for HT. I've seen countless high end homes over the years and while some boast over the top media or home theatre rooms, very, very few contain serious two channel gear/listening rooms. My point- our hobby is a very narrow niche. And it has nothing to do with money at that level. Garages with lifts, laundry rooms with liquor bars and views, even the infamous 'gift wrapping room' in the Spelling mansion, all 'hobbyist' pursuits.
My NY house is currently on the market. While I am not there for showings, the broker tells me that many people who have seen the listening room just don't know what to make of it- having never seen a room dedicated to a big turntable, tube amps and horns, among shelves and shelves of vinyl records and antiquarian tube gear and old aeroplane and car parts.
PS- looked at the listing- fabulous setting, the facade reminds me a little of those FLW 'Mayan' houses-
Looks like a significant price reduction too, however he bought the place for 4.9 M in 1995, so 22 M ain't a bad return.

The new owner will probably rip the listening room out and turn it into wine cellar

Bill Hart · Jun 6, 2013

MylesBAstor said:
The new owner will probably rip the listening room out and turn it into wine cellar

No doubt it will be converted back to a bedroom- it is a nice room at the top of the house with a separate foyer, french doors leading into it and an elevated deck with river views.
Our old house- which was back when I was making money

- had a huge living room. It had a floor to ceiling carved stone fireplace and antique wood beams- the room was easily 50 feet long and the entire house was made of cast concrete circa 1911 (it was an old Spanish Colonial 'villa' in Irvington, NY). We had a painter do a total number on the walls in that room. He brought the plaster down to a perfectly level, smooth finish, then distressed it, marbleized some parts, made it look like different colors of old paint, mold, etc. were revealed by cracks, etc. The idea was to create the ground floor of a Venetian palazzo, damaged by water and age. It looked great! Most people who saw it wanted to know 'what happened.' I was told that the first thing the buyer did was to re-do that room. I have some large format pics of the room that I would need to have digitized to upload- it was very cool. The big Bosendorfer tucked into a corner actually looked small, given the scale of the room. My wife hated that house- gave her the creeps. Ever been to Tuxedo Park? If I had serious money, I'd buy a place up there and live in gothic gloom.

DaveyF · Jun 6, 2013

Roger Dressler said:
Here's a better picture. Rest of this fabulous house can be seen here.
View attachment 10116

Thanks, Roger. I was going to see if I could find another picture on line and you beat me to it. OTOH, even that photo doesn't really do this room justice. Neither for that matter does the photo bucket in your link do any justice to this house, IMO. The views are truly spectacular and the home looks much better than in those pics.

DaveyF · Jun 6, 2013

Here's a picture of the gear in the adjacent room.

DaveyF · Jun 6, 2013

whart said:
Looks like a significant price reduction too, however he bought the place for 4.9 M in 1995, so 22 M ain't a bad return.

That price in '95 was prior to the existing house being built. So, basically land value!

NorthStar · Jun 6, 2013

I was looking at the pictures from Roger's link, and couldn't stop dreaming ...

* In comparison, the 'mansion' where I live right now, wouldn't even pass as an out-house!

- The mortgage alone is over $100,000 per month! ...And you don't want to live there without hiring a full team of gardeners, cleaning personal staff, and all that harem jazz. :b

I also noticed that the house has in-ceiling speakers in all the rooms, and I saw a Bose r.a.d.i.o. in one of the bedrooms.
The views are fantastic (love the ocean), but I also noticed several paragliding people all around; spies, or privacy invaders?

Anyhow, it's the people inside the house that counts, and not the house with all its lovely and expensive interiors and exteriors.
And when you think a little deeper about it; it makes you wonder about life's true values, including the equilibrium of our own humanity.

I would live there, no sweat!

Steve Williams · Jun 6, 2013

I would have to think that cash will buy the house. If you have to stop and think about a mortgage on a $22.9M home it's way out of your league. Can you imagine putting 20% down ($4.6M) and requesting an almost $20M mortgage. I think not.

Davey 5% commission is $1.145M. I hope you sell it

Bill Hart · Jun 6, 2013

Steve Williams said:
I would have to think that cash will buy the house. If you have to stop and think about a mortgage on a $22.9M home it's way out of your league. Can you imagine putting 20% down ($4.6M) and requesting an almost $20M mortgage. I think not.

Davey 5% commission is $1.145M. I hope you sell it

I didn't know Davey was a real estate broker. La Jolla is a very nice spot. Don't know if it got clobbered the same way other places did during the bubble, but at this price level, everything is negotiable.
I remember looking at one house in Tuxedo some years ago, there was an F-40 tucked in the garage, the house was vacant. I'm sure, for the right number, the car could have been part of the deal.

DaveyF · Jun 6, 2013

whart said:
I didn't know Davey was a real estate broker. La Jolla is a very nice spot. Don't know if it got clobbered the same way other places did during the bubble, but at this price level, everything is negotiable.
I remember looking at one house in Tuxedo some years ago, there was an F-40 tucked in the garage, the house was vacant. I'm sure, for the right number, the car could have been part of the deal.

Interesting. This home is being sold with all furnishings, audio gear, etc. included in the price. There's even an old Buick Roadmaster in the garage that is included....not an F-40 but

Like most high-end locales, La Jolla did experience de-valuation, BUT not as much as most areas... seems to be re-bounding now.

Steve, thanks for the thought, but the commissions don't work that way, LOL.

microstrip · Jun 7, 2013

DaveyF said:
Here's a picture of the gear in the adjacent room. View attachment 10117

Great to see the Audio Research Ref40 preamplifier!

DaveyF · Jun 7, 2013

microstrip said:
Great to see the Audio Research Ref40 preamplifier!

Yes, I was wondering when someone might catch that. Nice Clearaudio Innovation Wood as well. Not sure what happened to the arm and cartridge

MarinJim · Jun 10, 2013

I used to live at La Jolla Shores back in the '90's. Is the house above Black's Beach?

DaveyF · Jun 10, 2013

Yes, the house is above Black's Beach, although I didn't look carefully enough to see if you can see the beachgoer's below

MarinJim · Jun 10, 2013

DaveyF said:
Yes, the house is above Black's Beach, although I didn't look carefully enough to see if you can see the beachgoer's below

LOL. Too bad the SDSU co-eds don't go there.

The Million Dollar room.

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