Los Angeles - The iconic Los Angeles mansion of Hugh Hefner, the founder of the Playboy empire, is being put up for sale for $200 million (over R3.2 billion), Playboy Enterprises said, one of the highest asking prices for a private residence in the United States.
The Gothic Tudor-style mansion, which has an area of nearly 20 000 square feet (1,858 square metres) and boasts 29 rooms, sits amid five acres in Holmby Hills west of the city.
In addition to amenities such as a tennis court and a free-form swimming pool, the estate is home to the infamous Playboy grotto, which over the years served as the setting for some of Hefner's most lavish, hedonistic parties.
The mansion also has a zoo license, the company said in a statement announcing the sale.
Hefner will remain a resident. The elderly founder of Playboy Magazine must be allowed to live at the mansion for the rest of his life, according to the sale terms.
“The Playboy Mansion has been a creative centre for Hef as his residence and workplace for the past 40 years, as it will continue to be if the property is sold,” the statement said.
Representatives did not specifically say why the company had the decided to sell the property, which was built in 1927 and purchased by Playboy in 1971 for a reported $1.1 million, a figure property agents said was the largest real estate transaction in Los Angeles history at that time.
The principal agents for the listing are Drew Fenton and Gary Gold of Hilton & Hyland and The Agency's Mauricio Umansky, the husband of actress Kyle Richards of reality television show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”.
Reuters