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Abitare just opened the first Authorized Dealer for Versace Home in the USA in the summer of 2013. Since 2015, The Villa Casa Casuarina has been a luxury hotel with ten unique suites. He renovated the property for use as a boutique hotel, restaurant, and luxury event space.
This home, built with imported Italian materials and artisans, took almost eight years to complete. Versace not only enjoyed life in his mansion, but he also drew energy from its surroundings. It was one of the only private residences on Ocean Drive, so he could quickly walk to a favorite cafe.
Years Later: Tracking Gianni Versace's Murder
Scroll down for a look inside the boutique luxury hotel known as the Villa Casa Casuarina. He was suspected in the murders of four other men and was already on the federal ten most wanted list at the time he shot and killed Versace. Versace's blood stained the coral front steps of the property after the shooting. The world-famous, part-time resident, lived in the home for five years before his murder. It was designed by Lorenzo Carmellini, the Milan-based architect who created Versace’s homes and boutiques — often with his late partner, Rocco Magnoli.
However, its construction had been inspired by Alcazar de Colon, a 16th-century palatial residence in Santo Domingo that had been built by Christopher Columbus'son, so it had a solid architectural foundation. There is something completely stunning about the beauty of the mansion that transports you to a different world. Did I mention that Versace had this pool deconstructed and brought over from his home in Italy? I’d say this was a “bit extra” if it wasn’t for his 24-karat-gold-encrusted mosaic windows. Adjacent to the garden, in the "new wing" that Versace built when he acquired the mansion, is The Moroccan Lounge, which used to be his gym, and still houses his eight-person hamam Turkish steam room and shower. No longer on show is Versace's $10,000 marble toilet with 24-karat gold-plated seat -- one of the items auctioned off by Donatella after her brother's death.
Mansion mysteries
In those old photos, dried blood can be seen along the steps leading up to the Versace Mansion, the scene grotesquely displayed in the morning sun and framed with police tape as homicide detectives analyzed the site of the murder. On July 15th, 1997, at 50 years of age, Gianni Versace was shot twice on the steps of his Miami, FL home upon returning from his morning stroll down Ocean Drive. On most days, Gianni would have his assistant get his coffee and morning paper for him, but his decision to walk to the shop on his own that day would prove to be fatal. 100% of the Versace family shares were recently sold to the American fashion label, Michael Kors Limited, for $2 billion. Like anything Versace, you’re gonna have to be prepared to dish out some serious cash to stay at this perfect slice of opulence – since it appears booking a room at Villa Casa Casuarina can cost you anywhere between $750 to $1100 a night .
Jacques Amsterdam acquired the house for $100,000 and converted it into a 24-unit apartment building, naming it The Amsterdam Palace. It changed hands several times and was renamed as the Christopher Columbus Apartments, in commemoration of its architectural features referring to Mediterranean style. Versace spent $32 million and three years on renovations to transform 24 apartments into a home with 10 luxurious suites, 11 bathrooms, a library, and more.
Registered Agent is Judith Garcia
The mansion was again put up for sale in 2012, this time at a price of $125 million. An estimated $32 million in renovations over three years transformed the historic property into a manse fit for a style king. Next door was an Art Deco Hotel called the Hotel Revere, which Versace also snapped up, and demolished to make way for his garden, pool and the south wing, which used to house one of his libraries. The most elaborate Medusa can be found in the Villa's 54-foot-long pool, inspired by Versace's "Marine Vanuras" collection and said to be made from more than one million mosaic tiles, thousands of them 24-karat gold.
Much like his designs, Gianni Versace’s former mansion in Miami is every bit the spectacle of pure decadence that you’d expect from the fashion giant. Join us as we take an inside look at Gianni Versace’s life, his career, and his lavished mansion. But not only can tourists (and fans of FX's upcoming American Crime Story miniseries, which focuses on the murder) photograph the house, they can stay there overnight.
It was the success of the Versace fashion house that enabled Versace to create his unique Miami mansion, and links to his label were included all over the property. Versace's new pool drew design inspiration from a scarf in his "Marine Vanuras" collection. Much of the furniture inside was upholstered in Versace designs; a sitting room for his brother had furniture covered in Versace velvet. Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered on the steps of the Miami mansion in July 1997. Since Versace's death -- he was shot dead on the steps of his mansion in 1997, thus the camera-wielding tourists outside -- the property has changed management a couple of times. What many of those selfie-snapping tourists outside may not realize is that the former home of late fashion designer Gianni Versace isn't a museum or private home, but a hotel.
Gianni Versace’s remains were cremated and returned to the Versace estate near Cernobbio, Italy. The ashes were buried in the family’s vault located at Moltrasio cemetery, not far from Lake Como. His funeral, which was held at Milan Cathedral, had over 2,000 attendees, including Sting, Giorgio Armani, Elton John, and Princess Diana.
The gated, two-story manse comes with five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. On July 15, 1997, Versace was shot dead in front of the house by Andrew Cunanan. During this challenging and unprecedented times, we at the The Villa Casa Casuarina will continue to strive at all times to do what’s in the best interest of our guests and employees.
Your health, safety, and security have always been, and will continue to be our highest priority. This means taking action to ensure we meet this priority and limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Inside Tupac's Last DaysThe rapper's professional and personal life was at an all-time high when he was gunned down in September 1996. The 2013 buyer was a hotel group that set up a boutique hotel called The Villa Casa Casuarina. The hotel still has many of the unique touches Versace added, from mosaics and frescoes to double-king beds. The Miami estate was a luxurious home that showcased his creative vision — and also the same place where he was shot to death.
On the third story of the home, Versace even installed a rooftop observatory painted navy blue with gold stars. The hotel is at the former mansion of famed fashion designer Gianni Versace, who was killed in front of the property by a gunman on July 15, 1997. After Gianni’s death in 1997, the Casa Casuarina was left to the Versace family, who would go on to sell the home in 2000 for $19 million to Peter Loftin, a wealthy entrepreneur. Loftin transformed the property into a luxury boutique hotel and restaurant. The Versace Home Collection, created in 1992, has been the natural extension of the creative universe of Gianni Versace; fashion, design, and the passion for all forms of arts, theater, dance, painting and sculpture. A complete line of furniture, lighting, wall paper, flooring, accessories, textiles, fabrics and tableware, is now on display in the Miami Design District.
The room where Madonna would stay, the Mosaic Suite, is located upstairs, where the singer apparently enjoyed the bathroom's acoustics and the bird's-eye view of the pool. The room is now known as The Villa Suite, and, like the rest of the mansion's interiors, it's as over-the-top on glitz as Versace's collections. The most arresting feature, also available in Donatella's bedroom, the Venus Suite, is a custom-made double-king-size bed. If a $1,000-plus-a-night hotel room is out of reach, members of the public can indulge in the villa's Baroque grandeur with a dinner reservation at Gianni's, and an aperitif in the intimate, clubby Onyx Bar, in the space that used to be Versace's kitchen. The photos of the crime scene where Gianni Versace was murdered are gruesome and tragic.
Personal tools
One of the home's secret passages made it easy to get from the bedroom to a communal area. Murals were commissioned for walls and ceilings, stained glass was placed in windows, a marble floor was added, and a $10,000 marble toilet with a seat covered in 24-karat gold was installed. It had been built in 1930, so a historic designation limited the changes he could make.
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