In Newport Coast, a furniture designer eyes $69.8 million for his gold palace
In Newport Coast, one of Southern California’s glitziest mansions is aiming for the highest price in Orange County history: $69.8 million.
Dubbed Palais de Cristal, the newly built Palladian-style stunner is a celebration of wealth — a 15,500-square-foot concoction of gold, onyx and glass filled with over-the-top spaces and extreme amenities.
It’s owned by Amini Innovation Corp. founder Michael Amini, who grew his furniture company into a lifestyle brand that sells products through more than 3,000 retailers in 80 countries. He’ll smash the Orange County home sale record if he gets his price; the current mark belongs to a 19,000-square-foot mansion in the same neighborhood that traded hands for $61 million last year.
Amini outfitted the fully furnished estate with one-of-a-kind pieces and made sure all the home’s hardware — door handles, stairway railings, etc. — were coated in 24-karat gold. In the foyer, a stained glass dome named “The Eye of the Phoenix” draws the eye with gold pendants and a Swarovski crystal-encrusted eye at the center.
There’s also a grand dining room with a wine cellar, library with ocean views and subterranean garage with a rotating “car turntable” that doubles as a dance floor. The entertainment pavilion adds a lounge with a glass pool table, massage room with multiple saunas and movie theater with LED ceilings made to resemble constellations.
Seven bedrooms and 13 bathrooms complete the three-story floor plan, including a primary suite with custom cove ceilings, fabricated walls and dual bathrooms with heated marble floors.
An additional 3,640 square feet of living space can be found outside, where stone columns frame a custom mosaic swimming pool that depicts underwater scenes of sunrise and sunset. The space overlooks Crystal Cove and takes in panoramic views of the ocean and coastline.
Rex McKown and Marcy Weinstein of McKown Weinsten & Associates of Compass hold the listing.