A classic Italian villa with a roster of notable owners just recently hit the market for $37 million.
The Bel Air property, which sits on a rare double lot of nearly 4 acres in the private Moraga Estates, is currently the home of the US Ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands. Her late husband real estate mogul Fred Sands and famed architect Bill Hablinski built the residence in 2002, said listing agent Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury.
“The land and setting are unparalleled,” said Rey. “The scale and quality are remarkable. The property was especially built for entertaining. It epitomizes the California indoor-outdoor lifestyle.”
The 4-bedroom, 9-bathroom, 14,000-square-foot mansion blends stately details and elegant arches that lend Old-World sophistication to the spacious yet inviting rooms and seamlessly complement the verdant grounds and manicured gardens.
The estate once belonged to oil tycoon and philanthropist, Howard B. Kick, who back in the 1980s sold his company Superior Oil to ExxonMobil. The Sands purchased the site around the turn of the century and erected the main house, whose Mediterranean style was later copied by a nearby home, spurring a successful copyright-infringement case, according to Mansion Global.
A major contributor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, Sands sat on his economic advisory council in 2016, before accepting the nomination to serve as the US envoy to Denmark. Her ambassadorship officially began in December, several months after she listed another estate - her oceanfront Malibu home - for nearly $18 million.
Images courtesy of Coldwell Banker/ Rogers & Cowan
