Elizabeth Taylor

Having been home to the charismatic and enigmatic Elizabeth Taylor for 3 decades, her Bel Air mansion came up for sale after her demise in early 2011. She had bought the house in 1981 and it was listed for $8.6 million after her death. The house has been home to many family holidays.

Location: The house is located in the affluent community in the hills of Westside, city of Los Angeles, California.

Accommodation: The house is a literal palace with more than 7,000 square feet of living space. The house has 5 bedrooms. The master suite which belonged to the English-American icon occupies the entire second floor. There are an equal number of bathrooms with additional screening room, maids' quarters and a powder room.

Features: The 1960's ranch house sits on more than 1.2 acres of wonderfully maintained landscaping offering treetop-views across Los Angeles. An electronic security gate opens up to a private driveway which leads to a brick-lined, motor-court. The outdoors also house a spa, a mosaic pool a koi pond, an orchid outhouse and a private waterfall. There is also a 'secret' bamboo jungle. The insides of the house are equally impressive. The living room is palatial with wood-beam ceilings and a massive wood-burning fireplace. The sitting and dining room offer views of the outside English-rose gardens and the pool-terrace. The kitchen has been made in the galley-style with all modern amenities and equipment. The master bath has been equipped with a spa tub.

Neighborhood: Bel Air has been home to numerous celebrities in the past and present. Nancy and Ronald Reagan lived here while Nicholas Cage, Heidi Klum and Renee Zellwegger are some of the celebrities currently housed.

Taylor used to raise lot of money for this charity. It is an award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to freeing the chained dogs and helping them to find a place in a family with respect and love. Their main aim is to liberate them through a combination of rescue, rehabilitation, education and fencing programs.

The actress founded this charity in 1991. It is dedicated to provide critically needed support services for people suffering from HIV/AIDS. It also provides substantial funds for distribution to AIDS service organizations globally. Taylor’s legacy of humanitarian work continues to this day through the noble work of the “ETAF”.

The artist had donated a lot of funds to support the charity. The NGO has been giving care, hope and compassion to thousands of families affected by HIV/AIDS for more than 29 years. The main mission of the organization is to offer best quality health-care facilities at low cost like HIV medical clinic, housing, mental health, food pantry and peer support.

Elizabeth had heavily campaigned for this charity. The foundation which has been in operation since 1989 delivers nutritious meals prepared with love and affection by volunteers and their own staff to the people suffering from serious illness like HIV/AIDS throughout Los Angeles county.

Three paintings once owned by Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor went under the hammer at an auction held by the world famous auction house Christie’s in New York at the beginning of 2012. Initially it was estimated that the sale of the three artworks would net a combined sum of £9 million but in the end all expectations were wildly exceeded and the end figure was a hugely impressive £14 million which provided further proof, if any was needed of the late actress’s inherent ability to appreciate fine art. One of the first paintings to be auctioned off was the iconic “Vue de l’Asile et de la Chapelle de Saint-Remy” by Dutch Impressionist master Vincent Van Gogh which managed to attract the highest bid of £10.2 million. However it was not clear who bought the classic since the anonymous buyer completed the transaction over the telephone. The 1889 painting was bought by Taylor’s father almost 50 years back for £92,000. It portrays the asylum where the legendary painter spent the final month of his life and occupied pride of place in the living room of Taylor’s Bel Air residence. The second painting to do under the hammer was a self-portrait of French artist Edgar Degas which attracted the final bid price of £715,000. The final artwork to be sold off was a large scale landscape titled “Pommiers a Eragny” composed by French Impressionist Pissarro which landed a final bid value of approximately £295,000.

Renowned auction house Christie’s auctioned off 269 items of jewelry belonging to the late Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor at the end of 2011. The process went on for four days and the final sum netted from the entire exercise was a record breaking $116 million. Two of the items included the iconic pearl necklace known as the 'La Peregrina',considered to be one of the most famous pearl’s in the globe and a diamond ring gifted to Taylor by one of her ex-husband’s, Hollywood megastar Richard Burton which sold for $11.8 million and $8.8 million respectively. Incidentally, the bid for the 'La Peregrina' necklace was the highest for a single item at the entire auction. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian paid $65,000 to acquire three jade and diamond bracelets which was worn by the late actress almost every day during the last phase of her life. A diamond tiara gifted to Taylor by one of her ex-husbands attracted the final bid value of $4.22 million. A ruby and diamond ring gifted by Richard Burton went under the hammer for $4.22 million and another sapphire and diamond necklace attracted $5.9 million. Some of the other items which managed to attract impressive bids were a Bvlgari emerald and diamond necklace and an emerald and diamond pendant brooch by the same designer which attracted a combined sale price in excess of $12 million. The Taj Mahal ruby and gold chain encrusted with a large diamond designed by Cartier went for almost $9 million.