TopTenRealEstateDeals.com Top 5 Pick of the Week: New York Artist’s Penthouse & Play Ball

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TopTenRealEstateDeals.com offers fresh real estate news for luxury and celebrity listings across the United States. Check out a taste of their Top Ten list:

Dean Martin Sang Here (above)

When preparing his Las Vegas shows, Dean Martin worked with composer John Lucas at the piano in the living room of this house with its stunning view of Hollywood and Sunset Strip below.  It had to inspire them both while looking down on the town that held their hopes, dreams and success.  Built in 1957 and now for sale, this 5,376-square-foot home with the staggering view is at the end of a private cul de sac.  It features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a master suite with private terrace and spa, chef’s kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances, granite, 148-bottle wine cooler, indoor BBQ and a large island with prep station.  Rooms have 14-foot glass walls with 270-degree views from downtown to the Pacific Ocean.  There are two fireplaces, a step-down living area with custom built-ins, flat screen TV and bar, the lower level has a swimming pool with waterfall overlooking the view, a fitness center, 6-person steam room and 8-person sauna.  There is a high-tech audio-video system, electric blinds and automated Lutron light system and a one-bedroom, one-bath guest apartment with kitchen and separate entry.

The home where Dean Martin and John Lucas composed Martin’s Las Vegas shows, high above and overlooking Sunset Boulevard to the ocean.  Priced at $7.29 million.

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New York Artist's Penthouse

Sculptor Karl Theodore Francis Bitter was born in Vienna, Austria in 1867, and emigrated to the United States in the late 1800s.  As soon as he arrived in New York City, he applied for citizenship and went to work for a firm of house decorators.  At age 21, he competed for the design of the east doors and tympanum of New York’s Trinity Church and won.  This was the beginning of his short but famous career.  Before he was struck down and killed by a car while leaving the Metropolitan Opera in New York City at the age of 48, he had already won many notable awards from his projects in major cities throughout the East and Midwest.  Commissions carried him as far south as the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, where he executed numerous sculptures in and on the house such as the statues of St. Louis and Joan of Arc.

The last home of Bitter, his wife and three children, was built in 1901.  It was the visionary custom-designed penthouse in The Studio Building, by developer Walter Russell Bond.  The Grand Hall (Bitter’s former studio) has a ceiling over 22 feet in height and hand-painted by the famous Spaniard artist Ramon Canet.  Its floor-to-ceiling window wall was installed in 2010 and the eight-foot stone wood-burning fireplace was imported from the Iberian Peninsula.  With the room measuring 45-feet long, the current owners have been able to easily entertain as many as 350 guests at one function.  The home is 4,187 square feet with a reception hall, three bedrooms and three baths, a den, an original wood paneled dining room with Gothic windows, wine cellar and staff accommodations.  Views overlook the Museum of Natural History, Central Park and Manhattan.  The full-service cooperative building amenities include a full-time doorman, private storage, playroom and central laundry room.

Architects designed a double height studio 45-feet long for sculptor Karl Bitter.

Was $20 million – now $13.25 million.

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Play Ball - Pete Rose Home

With the opening day of baseball season starting on March 30th, this will be a big year in Cooperstown with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre entering the Baseball Hall of Fame. One person who won’t be inducted this year is Pete Rose. It’s now been a 24-year, ongoing brouhaha over Pete Rose’s gambling on the Cincinnati Reds games while he was the team’s manager.  Despite considerable support from current baseball hall of famers, players and fans, Major League Baseball’s all time hits leader, 17-time all star, MVP and one of its most exciting players ever is still banned from the Hall of Fame.

Now a resident of Las Vegas, the home that Pete Rose bought in 1999 in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles is on the market.  Sited on a quarter acre lot, the home consists of 4,719 square feet with six bedrooms and five baths.  Also included are family room, formal dining, study-office, 3-car garage and gourmet kosher eat-in kitchen.  The master bedroom has a large balcony overlooking the backyard pool and spa and the covered rear patio has an outdoor kitchen and bar for entertaining.

Sherman Oaks home of baseball star Pete Rose is for sale, listed at $2.15 million.

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Elvis Presley 1960's Beverly Hills Home

The days of Elvis slouched on a well-worn overstuffed sofa with a plate stacked high with banana sandwiches on his lap are long over for this house that he and Priscilla bought for $400,000 when they were first married in 1967.  Located in Trousdale Estates with spectacular views over Los Angeles, fans have been coming for years to write messages to Elvis on the garden gate door set into the front wall.  But when Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton bought it in early 2013, the rumor was that he would tear it down and build a Beverly Hills super mansion.  By November, Burger King made him an offer of $3.69 million.  Fitting that at the time, Burger King was about to launch their Big King burger and in the offer to Morton, said they would preserve the house as was.  Since Morton paid $9.8 million, it was no surprise that he didn’t accept.

During this time the idea that the house might be torn down brought the preservationists and Elvis fans out of the woodwork to launch steady protests.  Finally giving up under pressure, Morton held back and just “gave the place a cosmetic makeover both inside and out,” according to “The Real Estalker,” with the intention of renting it for $45,000 a month.  But on closer inspection of the before and after photographs, it appears that he just stripped out some of the most charming elements of the house and landscaping, including the focal point spectacular tree arching over the pool-terrace area that was the center point of the view over the city.  Morton just sold the property for $14.5 million, realizing a profit of $4.7 million in just one year. No word on what the new corporate buyer will do with the house.

Morton purchased the home for $9.8 million, paying $3.2 million under the asking price. Elvis & Priscilla bought the Trousdale Estates house in 1967 for $400,000.  Just flipped to an unnamed corporation for $14.5 million.

amelia island auction

Historic Amelia Island Auction

Now going to auction is one of the island’s most fascinating historical homes, Mount Hope Plantation.  John Daniel Vaughan, a lieutenant in the American Revolutionary War, designed and built the home with his wife, Rhoda, in 1797.  After John’s death in 1860, the home remained in the hands of his heirs until 1941.  That year a family from Jacksonville purchased the property and owned it until 1996.  The third and present owners then bought the home and in 2005, relocated it to its present site at the edge of the Intracoastal Waterway.  After the move, the house was completely restored and updated.

Now on 1.24 acres with 200 linear feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway, the home has 5,400 square feet of interior living space.  Features of the main house include three bedrooms, three baths, gourmet kitchen and a climate-controlled wine cellar with a 1,200-bottle capacity.  The separate guest house has one loft bedroom, one bath and kitchenette.  Entry is through a keypad entry gate and driveway, paths and oversized patio and barbecue area are paved with brick pavers.  Beautiful views of the marsh and Intracoastal can be enjoyed by owners and their guests.

Florida home designed by American Revolutionary War soldier in 1797. Completely updated on the Intracoastal. Near Jacksonville.  Auction date April 5th, 2014

Click here to see the rest of this real estate hot list!

Photos courtesy of TopTenRealEstateDeals.com, Evan Joseph

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