‘The House that Oprah Built’ is Up for Sale for $38 Million

By JOHN HARLOW | Editor-in-Chief

The Palisadian mansion owned by TV producer Michael King, also known as the “king of syndication” for the number of TV shows his family firm enjoyed on air at the same time, is up for sale at $38 million.

The mansion on San Remo Drive was originally offered last at $42 million, but after a brief period off the market, a February price cut has reduced the tag from “breath-taking” to merely “potentially record-breaking” for the town.

The 15,642-square-foot home includes seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and five fireplaces.

(Stylish places to burn any spare cash left after the sale.)

The home also features a 600-square-foot theater, a game room, a children’s playroom and staff quarters with a separate kitchen.

The dining room walls are inlaid with mother of pearl.

Michael and Jena King bought the original house in 2002 for $11 million, public records show, which they then tore down and replaced with a white ivy-covered mansion.

It was designed by architects Mark Ferguson and Oscar Shamamian, whose other clients include Cindy Crawford and club owner Rande Gerber, as well as CAA partner Kevin Huvane, who represents Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Jennifer Aniston.

The San Remo rebuild, which was influenced by the English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, who was responsible for the imperial government seat of New Delhi in Raj-era India, took three years to complete.

Michael is the son of Charles King, who founded the family fortunes in the 1960s by acquiring the rights to distribute silent comedies shot 40 years earlier and thought to have lost their value. He proved the market wrong.

From the 1970s, Michael, with his brothers Robert and Roger, produced some of the most widely watched TV game shows in the world, including “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!”

But King World’s biggest hit was backing Harpo Productions, which made “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Dr Phil” and “Rachel Ray.”

Michael joked that that his beloved home on San Remo was “the house that Oprah built” but he probably could have found the pennies down the back of the King World sofa.

In 2000 the family sold King World to CBS for $2.5 billion, but their logo continues to flash across the screen on often-repeated shows such as “Everyone Loves Raymond” and the CSI franchise.

Michael died in May 2015. The estate has appointed Elisabeth Halsted of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices to handle the sale.