This is how you restore an old architectural home. After buying a Spanish villa styled mansion 10 years ago for a reported $3.06 million, former supermodel and reality TV executive producer Tyra Banks added modern conveniences, while retaining a lot of the estate's original architectural charm. Now, she wants $7.7 million for the property.
Whoever buys Banks' dream house will get a reinvigorated estate with a modern kitchen, plush master bedroom, and comfortable spaces that make entertaining easy – so easy, in fact, the hard part might be getting guests to leave! All of those contemporary touches coexist with features like the tiled pillar fountain and loggias overlooking the front lawn…
… and the arches, sconces and mason work in the great room.
An updated kitchen offers everything that today's gourmand would want, including a six-burner Viking range, a food prep center island, loads of storage and a farm sink.
The house was also designed with huge arched windows, which allow in plenty of light, and other design features familiar to the Spanish villa style, like wrought-iron chandeliers and sconces, and tiles embedded in the fireplace mantle and the walls leading to the kitchen. The master suite is virtually a getaway, with a sitting area that provides views of the city, a roomy walk-in closet that is also a safe room, and that loggia that we mentioned earlier. A media room, library, sun room and formal dining room all serve to meet the new owners' needs, be they related to work or play.
Entertaining and lounging is no hard task in the backyard, either, with a swimming pool serviced by a casita, according to the listing with Sotheby's International Realty. A fire pit and full kitchen ensure that talking, dancing or lounging under the stars will be a memorable experience.
Banks apparently is reshuffling her considerable real estate portfolio. She just sold an apartment in New York City for $4 million, where she still has other properties, and she has other homes in southern California.
