City Views Surround a Chateau

It didn’t belong in Diamond Bar. It would have fit in better in Beverly Hills. Or maybe, with its chateau look, it should have been built in France.

Passersby weren’t shy when it came to voicing these sentiments about this 53-room, nearly 14,000-square-foot house as it was being constructed in 1987 on a street with the unpretentious name of Wagon Train Lane in a Diamond Bar community called the Country.

Even before the house was completed in 1993, however, onlookers were kinder, according to the homeowner, chairman of a computer company based in the city of Industry. Today, there are a number of 12,000-square-foot-plus houses in the guard-gated development.

About the home: A home tour drew as many as 1,000 people to this house in 1993.

Asking price: $4,938,000.

Size: Eight bedroom suites and 14 bathrooms in 13,900 square feet. The house is on a 40,000-plus-square-foot lot.

Features: The grounds have a tennis court, pool and gazebo, which has city views, a built-in barbecue and a bathroom with a sauna.

The front entrance has a private driveway, three electric gates and a courtyard with a fountain.

There is a 37-foot-high ceiling in the main entrance and a marble staircase that is a replica of one in the movie “Gone With the Wind.”

The two-story library and den were built to include some features seen in the movie “My Fair Lady.”

The house has city and mountain views from the balcony off a 3,000-square-foot bedroom.

There are two elevators and a guest room with a separate entry, a den and a private kitchen.

The maid’s quarters has a sitting room and kitchen. The laundry has an ironing room with a view.

The house has a theater with a recreation room, library, office, wine cellar and gym. The dining room is soundproofed. The home also has five fireplaces.

Where: Diamond Bar, in the East San Gabriel Valley, near the 57 and 60 freeways.

Contact: Lina Lee, Southland Realty Co., (909) 633-8899 or (909) 860-5757.

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos (copies only, please; we cannot return the pictures) and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; or e-mail homeoftheweek@latimes.com.