Take a look at the Moroccan Disneyland castle that once belonged to Madonna

Madonna became the neighbor everyone complained about when she moved into the 1926-built “Castle” in the Hollywood Hills in 1992.

The Holiday singer then paid a whopping $5 million (NZ$8.3 million) for the nine-bed, six-bathroom house and immediately began renovations in a bizarre attempt to turn the classic Spanish-style whitewashed house into an Italianate palazzo. to make.

To achieve the look, she ripped out Moorish tiles and having the entire building painted in terracotta pink and sandstone yellow stripes. It was not well received by the local population.

Today the whitewash is back, as are the tiles, and what was once a rather bare piece of hill around the more castle dripping green. And it can all be yours for just $21 million (NZ$33.4 million).

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While living at the castillo, Madge recorded her 1994 release Bedtime Stories and released one of her most controversial songs, Erotica.

But she’s not the first famous person to have lived in the sprawling house: It’s said that mobster and patron saint of slot machine junkies everywhere, Bugsy Siegel, once used the house as a gambling den.

According to the New York Post, the current owner is Russian-American fashion designer Leon Max, who bought the property in 2010 for $7 million (NZ$11.2 million). One thing is for sure, they have great taste and an aesthetic that could easily be described as Moroccan Disneyland.

Like a Bedouin tent, a bedroom is draped from floor to ceiling in carpets, and contains a set of old wooden doors to the bathroom, and a small, tiled hammam-like ensuite… and that’s just the beginning of the craziness in this lush playground.

In the rest of the house, the walls are lined with old masters (or at least replicas), including what looks like gold-framed Titian in the living room. The exposed, sculpted trusses are painted with floral and geometric patterns, reflected in a more Moroccan decor.

The dining room ceiling is equally impressive with a honeycomb coffered ceiling, also painted with flowers. There are hand painted tiles and ceramic tile floors throughout.

The office has teak panels and is dotted with 16th-century portraits. Continuing on that theme, the master bedroom has a huge four-poster bed that appears to be about the same age. Beyond the bed, a pair of colonnades open into a private sitting room with views over the dam and Lake Hollywood.

The 977 sq ft home also features a vintage wood paneled elevator and pool overlooking downtown LA.

But perhaps the nicest bedroom is the one at the top of the clock tower, reached by a spiral staircase, which has a 360-degree view of LA, the reservoir, and the Hollywood sign, which the house sits just below. Wrapped in blood orange and white fabric, it’s the kind of bedroom wannabe princesses dream of.

The house is built around a shaded courtyard, overlooked by a covered walkway connecting the bell tower to the rest of the house. It’s downright magical.

The list, which is with Linda May real estatecalls the house “one of the most spectacular trophy Hollywood Hills Estates”.

Castillo De Lago isn’t the only home in California built to look more like a Spanish village than a single home.

Perched high on a hill overlooking San Simeon, on the Northern California coast, is La Cuesta Encantada – Castle Hearst – the fabulous home of media mogul William Randolf Hearst.

Built between 1919 and 1947, the house has two huge swimming pools – one is an Olympic size pool decorated in fake Greek style, the other is indoors, like a Roman bath. Both are open to the public for swimming – a large cinema and a collection of buildings arranged around the central building designed to look like a Spanish style church.

A compulsive collector of antiques, Hearst filled every corner of the home with period pieces and architectural details, including importing ceilings, doors, and windows dating from the 14th to 16th centuries from properties in Europe and North Africa.

The house is open to the public for tours.