The castles in the seven kingdoms of Westeros can’t compete with the lavish palace that retail real estate investor Robert Rivani and his wife Krystal have curated in Beverly Hills.
“Being ‘extra’ is everything to us,” Krystal Rivani told the Wall Street Journal for a profile on Castle Rivani, a 1.7-acre, chateau-style compound the couple bought for $13.7 million in 2019.
She said they spent about another $4 million to make the home reflect their taste for fantastical interiors and landscaping, including placing a $50,000 replica of the spiked iron throne from the HBO television series, “Game of Thrones,” in their living room.
Robert Rivani in front of a replica of the iron throne from the HBO’s “Game of Thrones” (Facebook)
Her husband, Robert Rivani, is president of Black Lion Investment Group, a Los Angeles-based firm that’s been on a buying spree for high-profile retail condominiums in Miami and Miami Beach since last year. Last month, Black Lion paid $6.4 million for the ground-floor restaurant space at One Thousand Museum, the iconic luxury condo tower at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard designed by the late Zaha Hadid.
Built by entrepreneur David Gebbia and his ex-wife, Carlton Gebbia, who previously starred in “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” the 15,000-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion already had a Gothic flair combined with Italian Romanticism when the Rivanis purchased the property.
Robert Rivani (Facebook)
Stuck indoors during the pandemic, the Rivanis went to work transforming their abode into a whimsical adult playground, dropping serious loot along the way, according to the WSJ. The iron throne, for example, was crafted in Siberia, and the couple paid $15,000 to ship the 500-pound ornament to the U.S.
They paid $150,000 for a 25-foot-long chandelier with 300 glass pieces resembling butterflies that was made in Dubai, and hung it in their sitting room that the Rivanis call the Jungle Room. In the master bedroom, the Rivanis installed a 250-year-old Austrian church altar as their headboard. They paid $45,000 for it.
In one of the bathrooms, the Rivanis made sure guests can’t have a moment of privacy, as a dragon-shaped gargoyle sculpture looks down at the toilet. For the outside garden, Krystal Rivani created an “Alice in Wonderland” theme that involved redoing the grounds in a harlequin pattern, featuring flowers interspersed with pavers.
Robert and Krystal Rivani pose in front of Castle Rivani (Facebook)
The Rivanis are relocating to South Florida, and recently purchased a four-bedroom penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach, for $7.5 million.