The Manor, located at 594 S Mapleton Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90024, stands as one of the most palatial and legendary private residences in global real estate history. Sprawling across 56,500 square feet of meticulously designed living space, this French-chic château slightly surpasses even the White House in sheer size. It holds a permanent place in pop culture and real estate lore as the definitive “trophy estate.”
The Legacy of “Candyland”
Commissioned by Hollywood television royalty Aaron Spelling — the mastermind behind hits like Dynasty, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Melrose Place — and overseen by his wife Candy, the mansion was completed in 1991 after several years of construction. To make way for the mega-estate, the Spellings, who purchased the property in the early 1980s, famously bulldozed a house on the site that had once belonged to singer Bing Crosby, who lived there for more than two decades. According to the Spellings’ daughter, Tori, the family had actually toured Crosby’s original home before deciding to buy the lot — a nostalgic detail, given her mother’s admiration for the crooner — before tearing it down entirely to build from scratch.
For decades, the mansion was affectionately dubbed “Candyland” due to Candy Spelling’s extravagant, customized rooms, including a dedicated doll museum originally built to house her extensive antique doll collection (featuring pieces from her own Madame Alexander and QVC lines), along with dedicated gift-wrapping suites.
The home has changed hands several times since, each sale cementing its status as one of the most closely watched trophy properties in American real estate. Candy Spelling sold the estate in 2011 for $85 million to Petra Ecclestone, the British heiress and daughter of Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone undertook an extensive, multi-year renovation — reportedly bringing in hundreds of workers to modernize the interior — before selling the property again in 2019 for nearly $120 million to a buyer believed to be Saudi-linked, whose identity was never publicly confirmed. Most recently, in the summer of 2025, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, acquired the estate for $110 million, with plans to rename the landmark property simply “594,” after its street address, and to use it primarily as a venue for nonprofit and cultural events rather than as a full-time residence.
Unrivaled Architecture and Design
Every inch of the limestone-clad manor exudes Old Hollywood opulence and grandeur.
The Grand Entrance: A winding driveway guides visitors to a massive circular motor court centered by a fountain, with parking space to accommodate over 100 vehicles.
The Foyer: Upon entering, guests are greeted by a breathtaking double staircase and dramatic 30-foot ceilings reminiscent of a classic film set.
Layout: The multi-level structure houses 14 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms, a scale of accommodation that has helped the property hold the title of Los Angeles County’s largest home for nearly three decades.
Formal Living Spaces: Stone, hardwood, and plush carpeted floors lead through expansive formal spaces, including multiple fireplace-anchored rooms spread across the dining room, library, family room, and living areas — with additional fireplaces found throughout the home’s more intimate spaces, including the primary suite.
A World of Bespoke Amenities
The Manor is entirely self-contained, offering standard-setting amenities that rival the world’s finest luxury resorts.
Indoor Entertainment: The lower levels feature a private, two-lane bowling alley, a professional screening room complete with a large drop-down projection screen, and an extensive wine cellar.
Wellness & Pampering: Today, the estate includes a fully equipped beauty salon complete with dedicated massage spaces and specialized tanning rooms — though it’s worth noting this particular amenity is a more recent addition. It was Petra Ecclestone, not the Spellings, who converted Candy Spelling’s original doll museum into the salon and massage suite during her ownership, one of many updates she made in transforming the estate’s aesthetic from Candy Spelling’s ornate, traditional style toward a sleeker, more contemporary look.
The Grounds: The house is situated on roughly 4.7 acres of rare flat land in the heart of Holmby Hills. The exterior showcases rolling green lawns, manicured rose gardens, a championship tennis court, and an in-ground heated pool and spa — the pool notably lined with an estimated 170,000 individual glass tiles.
The Location: For optimal privacy, the rear boundaries of the property directly border the exclusive green fairways of the Los Angeles Country Club, placing it in one of the most secluded and coveted settings the city has to offer.
A New Chapter Under the Schmidts
The Manor’s 2025 sale to Eric and Wendy Schmidt marks a notable shift in the property’s storied history. Unlike previous owners who used the estate primarily as a private residence, the Schmidts have signaled plans to repurpose “594” as a hub for philanthropic and cultural programming — reportedly partnering with Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art on environmental and arts-focused initiatives — while also undertaking renovations aimed at improving the property’s energy efficiency and simplifying its sprawling floor plan.
This positions The Manor for an unusual next act: rather than functioning purely as a symbol of private excess, the estate may increasingly serve as a semi-public venue for cultural and charitable gatherings, even as it remains, at its core, one of the most extraordinary private residences ever built in the United States.
An Enduring Icon
Few homes anywhere in the world carry the layered history of The Manor. Built atop the razed foundation of a Hollywood crooner’s family home, raised to reflect the ambitions of a television titan at the height of his career, filled with the whimsical excesses of a wife’s personal passions, then reshaped twice more by subsequent owners with their own visions of luxury — the estate has continually reinvented itself while never losing its central identity as the definitive Los Angeles trophy property.
As a pinnacle of American architectural excess and prestigious history, 594 S Mapleton Drive remains much more than an address — it is an enduring icon of billionaire luxury, one that has now passed through the hands of a television mogul, a Formula One heiress, an anonymous international buyer, and a Silicon Valley billionaire, each leaving their own mark on one of the most legendary addresses in the country.
