1912 Berkeley Beaux-Arts Mansion Offered For $7.5 Million

BERKELEY, CA -- According to this home's listing, "in the days before the hillside was forested, the mansion resembled a glittering jewel visible from San Francisco across the Bay." Views of the Bay and San Francisco are visible from many vantage points in this beautiful 12,000 sf home.

It is currently the most expensive home for sale in Berkeley. Click through to the realtor.com listing to see dozens of photos.

• Address: 1960 San Antonio Ave, Berkeley, California
• Price: $7,500,000
• Square Feet: 12000
• Bedrooms: 7
• Bathrooms: 6 Full and 1 Half Baths
• Built: 1912

Features: The owner of the historic, three-plus acre Spring Estate in Thousand Oaks commissioned a tasteful update of several elements of the 12,000 square foot main house that successfully demonstrates how majestic Beaux-Arts Mansion can be brought back to glorious life.

Bay Sotheby's International Realty's Top Producer Herman Chan enlisted HGTV host and Berkeley native celebrity designer Cora Sue Anthony to revamp the landmark estate. The Mansion's exterior was repaired and given a coat of gleaming white paint.

Inside, many rooms in the Mansion have undergone an elegant metamorphosis. In the right hands, the home's over-sized grandeur can be modernized to achieve an intimacy more in keeping with today's aesthetics and lifestyles.

The Mansion is now awash in understated classic muted colors. The gleaming whiteness of 4 huge, stucco covered Tuscan columns now helps disperse light from the original stained-glass ceiling that tops the 30-feet atrium. Atop the stained glass is a colossal glass pyramid skylight.

The total effect brings to mind a modern, livable version of San Simeon's Hearst Castle.

A large dining room, billiards room, the kitchen, butler's pantry, breakfast room and servant's quarters complete the first floor. Upstairs the 26-foot long master bedroom, with en suite, a separate dressing room with skylight, inglenook, and carved fireplace has also been dramatically staged to highlight the room's panoramic views of San Francisco Bay from Marin County to the South Bay.

This listing originally appeared on realtor.com. For more information and photos, click here.