Customer Reviews

The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills

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This is really handsomely produced insider gossip.Very big on "legends" of famous owners but woefully inadequate on photographs of the estates or any design context. All about how much something cost, how many rooms and how much entertaining. Almost no sense of any esthetic or of how landscape, architecture and interiors worked together (or didn't).The book is beautifully produced and the early history is interesting but the actual photographs of the estates are so sparse or dated as to be almost ludicrous.

Covering some of the most beautiful estates in Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills and Bel-Air, this book is the ultimate in Real Estate wish-fulfillment. Happily it leaves off most of the cracker-box McMansions of the last decades; the focus is estates such as Casa Encantada, the Harvey Mudd mansion and the Warner Estate, as well as such estates as Enchanted Hill and Cordhaven that are sadly gone. The book is really a tome, large enough to be completely at home in one of the lavishly panelled libraries contained in it's pages and gives exhaustive history of the homes detailed inside. Filled with glorious photographs of the estates both today and in the years they were built, this is a must-have for serious collectors of books on LA's estate architecture and perhaps the best passive-aggressive gift one could give to someone who lives in Beverly Park.

The estates of Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, and Bel-Air are some
of Southern California's greatest works of architecture and
landscape design, but no one has published a serious history
of these celebrated residences until now.

I love The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills for many reasons.
First, it is filled with historical and present-day photographs that
really capture the beauty of these estates and the stories of their
often-famous owners. Second, this book does more than just describe
the architecture or the landscape design. It explains how the architects
and their clients created these grand estates.

Third, this is the antithesis of a glossy, superficial book. It is physically big and substantial, yes, but it's what's inside that matters. LEBH covers each estate in detail, not just the architecture and landscape architecture, but the interior design and furnishings. It provides the history of each estate, from its original design and construction through its subsequent owners and the changes they
often made to the house and property.

The books tells some great stories--some funny, some sad--about the different owners. And it has chapters that provide the detailed history for each of the three neighborhoods.

I came away from LEBH with a much greater understanding of and appreciation for the Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, and Bel-Air neighborhoods...and for these estates which can be rarely glimpsed from the street.

Whether you're an architecture or landscape architecture buff, an afficianado of Los Angeles history, or you just learn how rich families have their share of triumphs and tragedies,this book delivers. And then some.

This book is filled with beautiful photos of the many estates as well as filled with history about Beverly Hills and the celebrities that built them! Beautifully packaged and a terrific read!