The mansion bigger than the Taj Mahal and the White House
In short: In the heart of Holmby Hills lies a 56,500-square-foot French chateau that has become a symbol of architectural excess. Known as The Manor, this 123-room residence is so massive it dwarfs the White House and the Taj Mahal, serving as a literal monument to television royalty.
The Manor was built by television producer Aaron Spelling and his wife, Candy, on the former site of the Bing Crosby estate. Construction began in 1986 and was completed in 1988 at a cost of $12 million. The project was a labor of immense scale, employing over 150 workers a day and utilizing more than 500 tons of steel. Despite its grandeur, the house faced immediate scrutiny; the Los Angeles Times famously panned it in 1988 as one of the region's worst-built structures due to its ostentatious size and architecture.
The interior is a labyrinth of specialized spaces: a 7,000-square-foot master suite, a cinema with 20 custom seats, a basement nightclub with a bowling alley, and a kitchen capable of feeding 800 people. While Candy Spelling spent eight years sourcing furnishings from England, Italy, and France, the home's history is marked by rapid turnover and radical redesigns. After Spelling's death in 2006, British heiress Petra Ecclestone purchased the property in 2011 for $85 million and immediately spent $20 million to overhaul the interior, replacing the original chandeliers and mantels.
The property has served as a high-stakes barometer for the California real estate market. It sold for a record $119.7 million in 2019 before being purchased by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt in August 2025 for $110 million. Its legacy is cemented not just in real estate records, but in pop culture, appearing in films like Legally Blonde and inspiring novelty songs about the sheer scale of its inhabitants' wealth.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: The Manor (Los Angeles)
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