It’s coveted throughout Los Angeles as one of Bel Air’s prettiest estates.
Home to one of old Hollywood’s most glamorous couples, Il Sogno (the dream) has come on the market at US$45 million.
The former home Howard Ruby and Golden Globe-nominated-actress Yvette Mimieux was built in the 1920s, and is located in a peninsula of homes that juts out into the Bel Air Country Club golf course on Perugia Way.
Filled with fine architectural details and exquisite surface materials, the house is awash with dark-green marble, high-beamed and hand-painted ceilings, plaster walls, and stone-carved fireplaces.
The home’s interior was designed by Kalef Alaton – one of the 25 most influential interior designers of the 20th century, according to Architectural Digest.
There are six bedrooms and eight baths, with the master suite having dual baths and dressing rooms.
In addition to the the formal living and dining rooms, the luxury home features a ballroom and a library with hand-lacquered paneling and a cove ceiling with central skylight.
The attractive kitchen is fit for the finest chefs, designed for daily use as well as catering with many commercial-grade appliances. There is also a wine cellar and a four-car garage on the one-acre property.
Landscaping across the estate is lush and colourful, with eye-catching mature specimen trees and a swimming pool terrace accented with vines and climbing roses. The formal grounds were designed by David Jones, personal florist of Nancy Reagan, Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor.
Mimieux was one of America’s most popular actresses in the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s. Her work spanned both movies and television, including Where the Boys Are, Love Boat, and Dr. Kildare. She stepped away from acting when she married Mr Ruby in 1986.
Mr Ruby was known as ‘the father of corporate housing,’ and founded Oakwood Worldwide which supplies furnished apartments for short-term corporate or leisure travellers.
