California compound with secret tunnel, Tiki lounge lists for $38.5M
By Hannah Frishberg March 3, 2023, 3:52pm
This California listing has more bar areas than some American towns' main streets.
Cameron Carothers
This trophy California home comes with a suite of cinematic amenities.
In Pasadena, a sprawling estate with more lavish entertaining facilities than some American towns is poised to hit the market for $38.5 million on Friday, The Post can reveal.
Steps from the Los Angeles outpost of the luxurious Langham hotel, the compound at 2 Oak Knoll Terrace has two separate structures, one offering an opulent home and the other a mecca of amusements.
The sprawling main house boasts six bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, three laundry rooms, a library, formal dining and living rooms, six fireplaces and a finished basement with a vault and wine room spread across its 12,300 square feet. There’s also a 46-seat movie theater, a library with a secret bar and a pub room.
Then, in the 20,000-square-foot entertainment complex, there’s a central atrium with 36-foot ceilings, a gallery, a museum, a gym, a catering kitchen, five more bathrooms, an upper-floor apartment and a Tiki room with a thatch-roofed cocktail bar and totems “by one of the foremost living Pacific artists,” press materials say.
The main entrance to the compound.
Cameron Carothers
The museum space previously housed philanthropist Virginia Steele Scott’s art collection.
Anthony Barcelo
A cozy seating area.
Anthony Barcelo
To get up and down, residents can choose between an elevator and a nautilus-shaped spiral staircase.
Not in the mood to venture outside? The two structures are connected by an elevator-equipped underground tunnel.
On the grounds, there’s also a pool with grill station, a secondary kitchen, a cabana with changing rooms and a covered pavilion.
The Tiki bar.
Cameron Carothers
The main residence was designed by Myron Hunt, architect of the Hollywood Bowl, and later expanded by architect Gordon Kaufmann. The secondary complex, meanwhile, was built by mid-century architects Ladd & Kelsey in 1973 and housed philanthropist Virginia Steele Scott’s art collection until it was donated to San Marino’s Huntington Museum.
“This is the only known estate in the country consisting of a totally-restored historically-important home combined with a commercial-grade museum, set on 2.5 acres of gated park-like grounds,” Pasadena Nowpreviously reported of the property, adding that it’ll never be rivaled as “Current zoning would never permit the construction of an estate of this size and configuration.”
The listing is held by Douglas Elliman’s Ernie Carswell, Compass’s Brent Chang, and Deasy Penner’s George Penner.