[imagesource: Nils Timm For Douglas Elliman]

Few people know who Ken and Barbie were inspired by, or that the iconic dolls were based on real people at all.

Mattel founders Ruth and Elliot Handler used family members as inspiration when creating the dolls – Ruth’s brother Kenneth and Barbara Handler Segal.

Designer and developer, Nicole Sassaman, knows all this because she bought the Handler’s LA residence from Barbara “the real Barbie” for $3 million in 2012.

Sassaman said via Forbes that back then, the only thing in the home related to Barbie was the Barbie and Ken dolls in a glass case. Otherwise, the home was just like a “1960s time warp”.

This is Ruth and Elliot Handler:

And the original Barbie and Ken dolls:

Sassaman stripped the house down and started again, turning the property into the Barbie penthouse, as it is being called now.

She has also put it on the market again, this time for a grander $10 million (around R147 million).

Sassaman has been flipping houses since she bought her first one-bedroom apartment in 1997, and buying and selling the Greta Garbo estate helped her when designing the Barbie penthouse.

She said if she ever bought a property where someone famous had lived, she would pay respect to the iconic aspects and document everything from the beginning:

Taking this approach with the Barbie Penthouse, she has created something quite remarkable with every room having “something unexpected”:

“Every room you go into has something unexpected, whether it’s the library shelves that are actually a secret door or the little room with a loft,” Sassaman says. “The penthouse has a lot of interesting things you don’t see every day.”

The three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom Los Angeles condominium has an office that has a queen-sized bed in the loft and a balcony with 350 square feet. The main bedroom has a bathroom, a walk-in closet, an office and a private terrace.

And the views are outstanding, sitting above unabashed expanses of the Griffith Observatory, the Pacific Ocean, and the famous Hollywood sign.

But she says the kitchen is the one area that really stands out:

“The de Giulio kitchen has was custom-made for me. The crystal quartz island has a backsplash made of Calcutta marble that slides to reveal a spice rack. It’s unique, and I spared no expense. As a result, it is one of the most photographed kitchens in the world,” she says.

Seems legit:

Also notable is the custom wine cellar, which holds 300 bottles:

Sassaman says the “real Barbie” even gave her feedback on her design with a letter of thanks that she slotted in the front of her self-published ‘Barbie Penthouse’ book:

Sassaman is selling because she is keen to move on to bigger and better things, saying that:

…”I just thought it was a good time to let go and a great lesson to teach my 15-year-old daughter not to get too attached to things. Nothing lasts forever, and it is good to move on and try something new…”

Well, whoever gets the Barbie Penthouse next is bound to fall in love with the unobstructed views and stunning kitchen, if not with the kind of history attached to the property.

I mean, you probably don’t have to love Barbie to enjoy living here, but it will add to the experience.

[source:forbes]