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You wanna buy Villa Maggio, pallie?
Frank Sinatra is sort of the patron saint of Palm Springs, and his Rat Pack swagger still is the Valley’s calling card. Well, that and pair of Sansabelt slacks. And Ol’ Blue Eyes owned more than a few pads in the desert over the years. There was the original spot he bought in 1947 in Palm Springs Movie Colony neighbourhood and had the legendary mid-century architect E. Stewart Williams design. It’s a stunner (and you can still rent it out if you wish).
By 1957 he had moved to the the nascent community of Rancho Mirage to an estate on the Tamarisk golf course. Although known as the compound, he stayed here until the mid-1990s when it was purchased by Vancouver’s Jimmy Pattison (for $4,900,000, which was some serious change back then).
But the oddest of his pads must be Villa Maggio (named after his From Here To Eternity character), a sprawling 7.5 acres, actual compound that sits 20 mins south of Palm Desert in the sparsely populated area. He built the house in 1970 for the cost of $1,900,000, which is almost $12,500,000 in today’s dollars (which makes the current asking price of $4,250,000 seem like not too bad a deal). Why, you ask, would Sinatra need a second isolated house only 20 miles away from his main house? Maybe, don’t ask.
It’s a weird spot. It’s sort of mid-century meets hunting-lodge, meets tennis-retreat, meets an A-frame on the slopes of Silver Star.
It’s pretty original on the inside, in a sorta cool, sorta needs new carpet way.
But when you hit it at the right angle, it looks pretty contemporary.
Here’s a film that gives you an idea of how remote it is, and just how developed the property is (lots of concrete here).
Are you over 18 years of age?