Say hello to my little friend! Actually, it’s not that little—it’s a behemoth. It’s hard to talk about Al Pacino’s Cuban refugee Tony Montana without dropping many colorful, yet inappropriate, expletives, but we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that this massive mansion from “Scarface” is now for sale.
While Tony’s trophy home was a big part of the movie, most of the film was shot in Miami, however, the Miami Tourist Board was afraid of a negative reputation that would drive tourists away. That prompted many scenes to be shot in California, such as the actual house, known as the El Fureidis Estate, which is in Montecito, Calif.
Now for sale, the 10-acre estate was designed as a Roman villa in the early 1900s by architect Bertram Goodhue. He and the owner, James Waldron Gillespie, a wealthy New Yorker, traveled through the Middle East and Europe for a year looking for inspiration. That resulted in adding Persian touches, such as the gardens and fountains and accents like a Byzantine-style sitting room with an 18-foot domed ceiling decorated with a floral, hand-painted, gold and blue design in 24k gold-leaf modeled after the church of St. John Lateran in Rome. The barreled dining room ceiling is also finished in gold leaf, and according to the listing agent, depicts a scene of Alexander the Great conquering Persepolis. So there’s even something for architecture and history buffs!
At 10,000 square feet, the mansion has four bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a library, a sitting room and a lounge. A large rooftop terrace provides 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean, mountains and Channel Islands and makes an excellent venue for large-scale entertaining. Due to California being awesome, the multiple terraces of the estate can be used year-round.
Sure to be “cockroach”-free too! Tony’s made sure of it.
Listed for: $35 million
