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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
Greg Pitcher

Frank Sinatra's Californian desert hideaway, with three houses, helipad and parking for 24 cars on sale for £3.4m

He sang about Autumn in New York but if you fancy spending Christmas in California then check out Frank Sinatra's former desert mountain retreat, on the market for the price of a Mayfair flat.

The sprawling Villa Maggio estate consists of three houses containing nine bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, as well as an outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, helipad and parking for 24 cars.

Marketed by Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California for $4.25 million (£3.4 million), the retreat sits more than 1km above the Palm Desert valley and contains an external entertainment zone with firepit and seating.

Nice 'N Easy: cosy living space at Sinatra's former desert hideaway (Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California)

Sinatra is said to have played a key role in the design of the estate, which he used as a secluded escape for himself and his high-profile friends.

Interiors across the 600 square metre estate have been recently refreshed to reflect the iconic crooner's preferred domestic style.

Despite its mountain-top isolation, Villa Maggio — named after a character played by Sinatra in an Oscar-winning performance in From Here to Eternity — is close to shops, restaurants and Palm Springs International Airport.

My Way: Sinatra is said to have played a significant role in the design of the Californian estate (Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California)

The rustic lodge-style estate features plenty of hardwood interior surfaces and glass walls as well as a large stone fireplace and a small balcony overlooking the valley.

A five-bed main house is joined by a guest house that has three sleeping rooms including a secret passage between two of them. A separate pool house contains two saunas alongside a bedroom and kitchenette.

Villa Maggio is said to have been completed in 1970, around the time of Sinatra's short-lived retirement, before he returned to the limelight with Ol' Blue Eyes is Back.

The My Way singer is synonymous with the festive period through hits including Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, White Christmas and The Christmas Song.

As well as the mountain-top lodge, he is also said to have lived in a suburb of Los Angeles, a Malibu beach house and a luxury apartment on New York's Upper East Side at the height of his fame.

Sinatra died in 1998 at the age of 82. The Villa Maggio property is mentioned affectionately in his wife Barbara's book Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frank.

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