Even though American Idol is not a show I regularly watch, I was completely floored to find a two page article in this week’s US Magazine featuring the mansion the current Idol contestants are calling home. I love me some celebrity real estate! And while US didn’t give the exact location of the Idol pad, it did publish several photos of the 35,000 square foot manse and stated that it was located somewhere in Bel Air. Well I, of course, got to cyberstalking and it wasn’t long before I had located the Mediterranean style home. And I immediately dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it. 🙂
In years past, the Idol contestants were put up in an exclusive apartment building called The Marlow which I blogged about last year. Well, the economy may be bad, but the Idol finalists are movin’ on up, because this season they are residing in a rented four story, nine bedroom, twenty bathroom (I’m not kidding!) mansion that sits on over an acre of well-manicured land. According to one real estate website, the home, which was originally built in 1927, boasts two pools (one indoor, one outdoor), a gym, a screening room, a bowling alley, an elevator, an indoor basketball court, a steam room, a jacuzzi, and private guest quarters. It sounds like Disneyland! I swear, put in a Starbucks and I’d never leave the place. 🙂 FOX has also sprung for a live-in chef, who cooks up healthy meals for the Idols daily. You can see great indoor photos of the house on some real estate websites here and here. And you can watch a video of the Idols moving into their new home here.
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Sadly, there’s not a whole lot of the home that is visible from the street, excluding some large exterior gates. I could see about ten cars parked in the driveway, though, so it seems that the Idols were allowed to bring their cars with them to California. 🙂
There are numerous differing online reports as to whether the Idol mansion is currently for sale. From what I can gather from the many conflicting accounts I’ve read, I believe the mansion was on the market for quite some time back in 2006 at a price of $43 million. After over 200 days with no sale, that price was dropped to $29,995,000. After an $18,500,000 deal fell through in 2008, the house was eventually taken off the market altogether. It is currently available for lease at a rate of $85,000 per month. The sign pictured above was on the ground in front of the mansion when I was stalking it. I wonder if one of the Idol hopefuls took it down in hopes that they would be able to buy the mansion themselves after landing a record deal. LOL If you have the $85,000 a month to shell out to rent the place, it should be available in about ten weeks when Idol is over. 🙂
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: The American Idol mansion is located at 277 St. Pierre Road in Bel Air.
I really loved the final 5 American idol group song last night. It was a pity to see Aaron Kelly got rid of but I think the other contestants were better hence he had to go!
I live right down the street from there! Like 7 houses down. Lol
Bring it on Simon, he is so cutting sometimes but great to watch better than Paula.
OH MY GOD.
So Google Maps told me that it was at 630 Nimes Rd., right? So I trekked all the way out there… and it WASN’T that one! And I passed RIGHT BY THIS ONE to get there! I remember looking straight at that address plaque!
I HATE THE IRONY OF LIFE.
I can’t wait to visit LA next weekend and use mapquest and cruise over just to see the gates , I love American Idol
Mary
Yeah, I was also curious when I first saw the mansion on the show. And being such a Google Earth nut, I immediately set out in the hills of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and BelAire searching for this house. I did indeed find it also, just by the shape of pool, trees, color of roof, etc. Then with Google Maps Street View, I confirmed it by the gate. It really wasn’t that hard. It’s not far, less than a mile I believe, from the Playboy Mansion. I wonder if any of the contestants are stopping by to party with Hugh. Ha. Though, during my search, I was just amazed at how MANY mansions there are in the LA area. Wow. And even though you can’t see them from the street, look from Google Earth and you can see them all. It’s crazy how much wealth is out there.