PALM BEACH, Fla. – In 1980, the same year John Lennon was shot and killed outside his Dakota apartment building in New York City, he and his wife, Yoko Ono, bought a beautiful oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, for $725,000. After six months of ownership, and with plans to renovate, they returned to New York to record their now-classic LP Double Fantasy. Sadly, Lennon was never able to enjoy their oceanfront Florida estate again. He was shot and killed in the front of The Dakota, the Manhattan residential building where the couple owned an apartment, on December 8, 1980. After John’s death, Ono returned to Palm Beach to complete the renovations and sold it, in 1986. The home has recently been put on the market by its current owners for $47.5 million.
Designed by famed Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner and built in 1925, the 14,145-square-foot home, named El Solano, includes seven bedrooms and 12 baths in Mizner’s signature Old World Mediterranian style. It was built during a period when craftsmen were brought in from Europe to build Palm Beach mansions with finely hand-crafted details. The home also contains a gourmet eat-in kitchen, formal living and dining rooms, a den/library, fireplaces and wet bar. Special touches include a hand-stenciled ceiling and the use of coquina stone accents. Outside, are two swimming pools, a tennis court, unobstructed ocean views and 180 feet of beach across the street with beachfront cabana. The 1.9-acre property also includes a three-car garage and guest house.
The rather formal elegance of Palm Beach has always drawn the super wealthy who feel more comfortable in the company of their peers. It is estimated that 32 billionaires on Forbes‘ list of 400 worldwide are residents or frequent visitors there. Palm Beach property owners include entertainer Rod Stewart, businessman and philanthropis Carl Icahn; radio/TV personality Howard Stern, author James Patterson, and President Trump, who bought Post Cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 1985. Palm Beach is also where the Kennedy family has maintained a winter retreat since 1933.
The Palm Beach oceanfront mansion that John Lennon and Yoko Ono purchased in 1980 for $725,000 and which was later renovated by Ono and sold, in 1986, for $3.15 million, is currently listed with a selling price of $47.5 million. To view the rooms and grounds of El Solano online, visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.
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