Palatial living with majestic vistas

Charles Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis on the front meadow of this Montecito estate while paying a visit to his patron, Lora Knight.

Knight and her family used the property as a second home for many years after she had it built. Pasadena architect Myron Hunt designed it in 1924 to rival the grandeur of Knight’s home, known as “Vikings Holm,� at Lake Tahoe. Hunt envisioned the Montecito home as an example of Spanish hacienda architecture on a grand scale. Knight called the home “Cima Del Mundo,� meaning “Top of the World.� It sits on 11 acres with ocean, harbor, valley and mountain views.

About this house: Mark Cerami, founder of MSC Music & Entertainment and co-founder of Priority Records, and his wife, Jenean, bought the estate in 1998 and recently completed a major restoration of it.

Asking price: $40 million

Size: The estate has seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and five half bathrooms. The 22,000-square-foot manor house has a grand hall paneled in teakwood with a hand-painted barrel ceiling; a living room with a hand-carved vaulted teak ceiling; a formal dining room with a coffered walnut ceiling; a kitchen with a fireplace; a breakfast room with French doors; and a sunroom. The master suite has an office, a sitting room and a bathroom with heated towel racks and a fireplace.

Features: The estate also has a 3,000-bottle-capacity wine cellar and tasting room; a butler’s pantry with silver drawers and china cabinets; a bowling alley with a 1924-era ball return, automatic pin setup and computerized scoring; a billiards room with a 950-gallon tropical saltwater aquarium; a multilevel gym and sauna; a 15-seat theater and adjoining lobby; a professionally equipped bar; two laundry rooms with a total of eight washers and dryers; four safes; lush gardens, a mosaic pool, a waterfall and a spa. There is also a one-bedroom guesthouse with a full kitchen, a living room and a fireplace.

Where: Montecito

Listing agent: Rebecca Riskin, Village Properties, Montecito, (805) 565-8863

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos (copies only; we cannot return the pictures) and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; or e-mail [email protected].