House of the Day: French Norman, Now Remove Your Shoes

There are some architectural styles that just dictate my behavior. For instance, whenever I see a French Norman estate, I feel like I should lower my voice to a whisper and put paper slippers over my shoes before I traipse on in. This is one of those places.

Located in Bel-Air, a Los Angeles community of expensive homes that prefers understatement to exclamation points, the home came on the market at $18 million -- although this is one of those situations where if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.

One of my favorite features of the 7,500-square-foot mansion is not just that it has eight bedroom suites, but that there is a separate children's wing. How many times have I dragged my weary bones home from work and wished our house had a separate wing for the little ankle-biters?!

The estate occupies almost an acre, most of it spent on creating a mini-park -- all behind gates, of course.

The rooms are of a grand scale: formal and everything looks manicured and perfectly royal -- the way a French Norman home should be.

There is a motor court and a three-car garage.

Joe Babajian of Rodeo Realty has the listing.

Click on the images below to see other homes for sale in and around Bel-Air:

See more Houses of the Day and other homes for sale in Bel-Air on AOL Real Estate.

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