MANSIONS - GREENACRES

I have a thing for old Hollywood mansions and the like. I completely love their over the top grandeur and architecture. Now I'm not talking 1980's Dynasty style mansions, I'm talking the old school Hollywood homes of the 20's. 30's and 40's etc. So I think I'll start an occasional series on these palaces, it'll be cool to discover new ones along the way.

I'll begin with what has been described as "the most impressive movie star's estate ever created." Harold Lloyd's 44 room mansion on 15 acres in the Benedict Canyon section of Beverly Hills, California. Lloyd was a silent film star and clearly a popular one. The hose was deigned in the Italian Renaissance Mediterranean Revival style: modelled after the Villa Palmieri near Florence. Construction of the mansion began in July 1927 and was completed in 1928. The 44-room, 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2) house and estate was said to have cost $2 million at the time.

This house is incredible, happily it's still standing although most of the grounds were sold off after his death in 1971 and it sits on a smaller 5 acre plot.