Hot Property: Does Nicolas Cage have a buyer on the hook?

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The sealed-offer sale of Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage’s Bel-Air Tudor may have had the desired effect. The property is now “looking for backup offers,” according to its status on the Multiple Listing Service.

The sale was to take place Sept. 24 with the minimum opening offer set at $9.95 million.
Known as Harris House for its original owner, the estate has been on and off the market since October 2006, when Cage listed it for $35 million. It had been priced earlier this year at $17.5 million.

The 1940 baronial mansion, clad in decorative brickwork, has six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, five fireplaces, stained glass and period details in 11,817 square feet. There is a theater, a library and a 1,800-bottle wine cellar. The acre of grounds includes a swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen with a brick oven and a gated circular motor court.

The Gerard Colcord-designed house was based on British manor homes of the 15th and 16th centuries, according to “Colcord Home” by Bret Parsons, but its central square tower and entrance “hints that they are the remains of a castle that has been encapsulated by an expanded Tudor residence.”

Its chain of celebrity owners includes singer and entertainer Dean Martin, who bought it in 1972, and singer Tom Jones, who took ownership in 1976. Martin commissioned architect Colcord and his associate Liza Kent to add the 2,500-square-foot entertainment complex.

Cage, 45, who won an Oscar for “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995), bought the property in 1998 for less than $7 million. Parsons’ book places the original permit valuation at $85,000, plus a land cost of $25,000.

The listing agent is Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, according to the MLS. There are current photos of the house at the WEA website. I think it’s well worth a look before the photos come down. Because I don’t know who took them, I can’t seek permission to put them up at L.A. Land and save you the step. Check out the entry stairway, my personal favorite, and the exterior shot that shows a motorcycle leaned up against a tree.

-- Lauren Beale

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Related item: Hot Property: Nicolas Cage estate, once listed at $35 million, looking for offers from $9.95 million