924 Bel Air Road

March 11, 2018

924 Bel Air Road

The residence on 924 Bel Air Road is currently listed on the market for USD 250 million, a home that floats on the hillside above Elizabeth Taylor’s former residence like an oversized yacht. The property is all blues and whites and greens with pools and terraces and a water feature that runs along the parameter. In the evening, it glows like a hilltop citadel.

Built by luxury developer Bruce Makowsky, it is the most expensive home ever listed in the United States and it joins a wave of American spec-homes being built to satisfy the whims of the super-rich. As the spec-home trend gains momentum, developers continue to raise the stakes.

924 Bel Air Road come with 150 pieces of original artwork, around USD 30 million worth of classic cars, a dozen high-performance motorcycles and a deactivated helicopter. “The house comes with a lot of great toys”, said Mr. Makowsky grants as we begin our tour on the ground floor, passing a car gallery, a four-lane bowling alley, custom-made glass ping-pong and pool tables and a wall-mounted candy dispenser. Showpieces certainly abound. Also on this floor is a champagne pinball machine, a chrome-plated machine gun sculpture and diamond encrusted Fender guitar.

“There are five bars in the property”, Mr. Makowsky tells me as we round the corner and ascend to the next level, but I quickly lose count. There are wine and champagne cellars, televisions at every turn, including a giant outdoor hydraulic screen that rises up behind the infinity pool. If that’s not enough to entertain, there’s a 40-seat Dolby home theatre with surround sound that shakes my plush leather armchair.

Makowsky loves leather, marble, and polished steel. Occasionally he also likes wood, evidenced in a giant teak accent wall on the second floor. He also likes vintage cars, airplane parts, antique meat cutters, helicopters and boats. When it comes to furniture, he tends toward Italian design, though he also has a soft spot for Hermès and German hardware for the bathrooms.

The home includes a massage studio and wellness spa, a Technogym fitness centre, 85-foot glass tile infinity swimming pool, 40-seat 4K Dolby Atmos Theater, a four-lane bowling alley, an auto gallery with cars valued at more than USD 30 million, seven full time staff, over 100 curated art installations, an outdoor hydraulic pop-up theater, two fully-stocked champagne/wine cellars, two commercial elevators and 270-degree views of Los Angeles.

Nothing is accidental here, and nothing is lacking, except perhaps a sense of organic comfort – the home isn’t exactly cozy. But then, that isn’t really the point. The property is meant to offer up every imaginable detail for its future magnate owners to have a good time. And according to Mr. Makowsky, they’ll be willing to pay for it.

“Until now, the ultra-luxury market was void of homes that even came close to matching the level of mega-yachts and private jets that billionaires spend millions of dollars on every year”, he says. “There are hundreds of new billionaires created each year and they are increasingly setting their sights on this coveted enclave of California for everything the state has to offer”.