Randolph Duke Puts Award-Winning Hollywood Hills Home On The Market

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Just in time for this year's Academy Awards, Randolph Duke, who has designed dresses for several stars who went on to win Oscars, has put his award-winning Hollywood Hills home on the market at close to $7.9 million.  The home, which won the AIA award for best residential design in 2007, is also for lease at $24,500 a month.

The 4,800-square-foot house, on a promontory, was designed by XTEN Architecture to look as if it is floating above the city. Described as being in the "Glamorganic" style, the home has three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, but it also has 6,500 square feet of terraces, decks and gardens, all accessible through electric glass walls.

An outdoor dining area was built into the hillside, and it has a chandelier in a tree, a pool made of glass tiles and a meditation garden.

Duke gained fame in 1996 as creative director and designer at Halston's in New York. Halston not only has a high-fashion style, but he also sold his clothing line known as "The Look" through The Home Shopping Network. Stars named Oscar winners while wearing a Duke-designed dress include Hilary Swank, Angelina Jolie and Marcia Gay Harden.

Brett Lawyer of Sotheby's International Realty - Sunset Strip Brokerage has the listing.

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Stanley Chais, in the news recently for funneling funds to an alleged Ponzi-scheme financier, has listed his condo in Sierra Towers, a '60's era high-rise off Hollywood's Sunset Strip, at $4.7 million. It is for lease at $28,000 a month.

The 3,800-square-foot unit has two bedrooms, four bathrooms and a balcony. The building has a pool, gym and valet service.

Chais, 82, ran an exclusive investment pool his clients called "The Arbitrage." He placed the money with the financier, and now Chais is threatened with lawsuits from investors who suffered losses. Chais' attorney, Eugene Licker, has called Chais "a victim who has personally lost millions in the scandal." Chais has moved to New York, Licker added.

Among investors who claim to have lost money was Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth, nominated this year for writing the screenplay for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," starring Brad Pitt.

Chais and his wife, Pamela, bought the condo about two years ago for $4.4 million.

Guy Levy and Linda May, both of Coldwell Banker, have the listing.

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Marlon Brando didn't always live next door to Jack Nicholson when he wasn't in New York or on his island in the South Pacific.

Brando, who died in 2004 at age 80, once had a home in Sherman Oaks that is currently owned by Maria Cristina Ruiz, the late actor's former housekeeper and mother of his three youngest children.

That home is now on the market at $2.8 million. The one-story home has five bedrooms and four bathrooms in about 3,000 square feet, and there is a detached guesthouse, a tennis court, a sauna and a pool. There is also a diving board Brando built for his children.

Brando won two Oscars, for "On the Waterfront" (1954) and "The Godfather" (1972). When he died, his estate was estimated to be worth $21.6 million, including $18.6 million in real estate.

 Elena Safronova, First Team Real Estate, has the listing on the Sherman Oaks home.

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Enough of Oscar-related items--Now some news about a trader, a spy and a house on Molokai.

The trader--John Devaney--has sold some of his key assets but is raising the price on his 17-bedroom home in Aspen, Colo., from $21.5 million to $23.5 million. The new price reflects Devaney's improvements, including a pool and the rewiring of Christmas tree lights. The tree has been called "a local landmark."

Devaney and his wife, Selene, bought the Aspen property in 2006 for $16.25 million. Known as The Sardy House, it was used at that time as a bed-and-breakfast. It is one of the largest homes in downtown Aspen.

John Devaney's fund was an early victim of the subprime-mortgage meltdown. In 2007, several of his hedge funds collapsed, and the funds' assets were seized by lenders, but he continues to run United Capital Markets Inc., a specialist in distressed assets based in Key Biscayne, Fla.

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As if there hasn't been enough news out of Washington D.C. this past year...

The one time home of a World War II spy has come on the market in the nation's capitol at $1.95 million. The agent--Betty Thorpe Pack, code-named Cynthia--was an American who spied for the British in Washington during the Second World War. She seduced diplomats to get their secrets, according to "Cast No Shadow," a biography by Mary Lovell. After the war, Pack moved to a chateau in France and died in 1963.

"Cast No Shadow," a biography by Mary Lovell, is all about Pack and her Washington home. The house, in Georgetown, has three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

The sellers are Hans Wyss, a former World Bank staffer, and his wife, Edith. Ann Hatfield Weir and Heidi Weir of Washington Fine Properties have the listing.

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Now, on to Molokai---If you have ever had a desire to live in Hawaii, here might be your chance. It is certainly unusual even in Hawaii, because it is in what is probably the least developed of the islands open to the public.

If you remember your history and geography lessons, you may recall that Molokai is where Father Damian, the Catholic priest, took care of Hawaiians suffering from leprosy, but that was many years ago. Leprosy is no longer a concern in Molokai.

Enter British-born John McAfee, the first to distribute anti-virus software using the shareware model and a pioneer of instant messaging. McAfee had a four-bedroom, 5,796-square-foot home built on 5.3 oceanfront acres on Molokai and now that it is completed, he has lowered its asking price from $4.9 million to $3.7 million. McAfee, a man of many interests, is ready to move on.

He is based in Rodeo, N.M., where he built a villa in the middle of some of his private airstrips. This is also where he pursues aerotrekking (flying Ultra-Light planes).

The Mokokai property, entered through a 20-foot tall Japanese gate house, is listed with Andrea Pilot of Coldwell Banker, Brentwood West, and Bob Hansen of Coldwell Banker, Wailea.

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