The homeowner commissioned artisans from Fez to make her dream of having a traditional Moroccan riad in the California desert a reality.
Rabat – The $16 million ‘Casbah Cove’ mansion in the California desert is the stuff Moroccan dreams are made of.
The 16,800-square-foot (about 1,560 square meters) estate in the prestigious Bighorn Golf Club in California’s Palm Desert is surrounded by mountains and overlooks the iconic Coachella Valley.
Luxury-lifestyle magazine Robb Report explains that the mansion was the vision of a Chicago-based real estate investor.
“I immediately knew I wanted a traditional Moroccan riad here in the desert,” the homeowner told the magazine.
After settling on the site in 2006, she commissioned acclaimed local architect Gordon Stein to design the mansion and authorized a local high-end construction company, RAM Development, to build it.
Casbah Cove’s construction took four years to complete, and the homeowner flew teams of artisans from Fez to California to add authentic Moroccan touches, shown through traditional Moorish touches and intricate mosaic tiling.
The California mansion features a Moroccan riad-style inner courtyard with a retractable glass ceiling that reportedly cost $900,000.
Although the Moroccan mansion has nearly 13,000 square feet (about 1,200 square meters) of interior living space, there are only four bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
Entertainment and leisure spaces include a 20-seat hookah lounge, a 20-foot outdoor movie screen, an outdoor kitchen, and a 75-foot (7-meter) saltwater pool lined in black granite.
Complete with a traditional hammam spa, the mansion brings Moroccan magic to California.
However, Casbah Cove has not had much luck with buyers, according to Robb Report.
The home first hit the market in 2015 with a price of $24.5 million and reduced to $21.19 million later that year.
The Moroccan riad came off the market in 2016 but surfaced again in 2018 with a $17.88 million asking price.
June 2019 saw no sign of the property on real estate websites; however, the luxury home in California is currently up for sale with a price tag of $16.1 million.
