It didn’t exactly sell for a song. “Great American Songbook” keeper Michael Feinstein dropped $7 million to buy Pasadena’s historic Cravens estate, the pulent mansion that bears the name of former Southern California electric mogul John S. Craven.
The Millionaire’s Row estate, built in 1930, was first listed in February for $10.5 million.
Feinstein, who is also a cabaret singer and pianist, is getting quite a bit for the money. The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom property features six carved marbles fireplaces, murals by artist Ernest Peixotto, a massive circular skylight above its main staircase, and Mrs. Craven’s famed basement fur “vault.”
The Cravens estate spans 20,000 square feet and was designed by Louis P. Hobart, best known for San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. It cost $1.25 million to build, making it Pasadena’s most expensive home for decades.
Feinstein shouldn’t have trouble coming up with the cash: his brownstone on the Upper East Side in Manhattan went into contract for $15.9 million in November.
The Red Cross has owned the Pasadena home since 1962 and will disperse the funds from the sale to outposts around the country.[LACurbed] — Dennis Lynch