Tori Spelling and ‘Candyland’: The 123-room family mansion that hosted Prince Charles

Actresses Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth, who starred in the 1990s TV show Beverly Hills, 90210, have revived their friendship in 90210MG, a companion podcast, in which former cast members discuss past episodes and what their lives are like now, 30 years on from the hit series.

In the last episode of 90210MG, Garth – who played the character of Kelly Taylor – interviews Spelling about her life, her childhood and her parents. Spelling’s father Aaron Spelling was not only the producer of Beverly Hills, 90210, he also produced other famous shows such as The Love Boat, Dynasty, Charlie’s Angels and Charmed. When Spelling – who played Donna Martin on Beverly Hills, 90210 – starts to speak about her life as a child and teenagers, the conversation inevitably turns towards her family home: a sprawling 56,500-square-foot mansion in Los Angeles, spanning over four acres, known as “Candyland,” in honor of her mother, Candy Spelling. The property today is simply known as “The Manor.”

The 48-year-old actress, however, did not grow up in the mansion, she said. “The biggest misconception is that I grew up in the house,” she told Garth in the podcast, in comments later published by People magazine. “We moved there when I was like 17. So I spent like two years there.”

Speaking more about the property – which is reportedly bigger than the White House – Spelling explained: “I never saw every room, and I lived there for two years. There was a wing that all of my mom’s staff lived in.”

But despite its size, the home was “cozy,” said Spelling: “I mean, it was warm. Or as warm as a 56,000-square-foot mansion can be.” However, in a 2021 radio interview with Jeff Lewis Live, the actress said that while the home was “beautifully decorated,” it was overly spacious. “My mom has impeccable taste, but the rooms were large and it felt cold all the time. Just because physically, honestly, they were too big,” she said.

The Manor has 123 rooms in total, including 14 bedrooms and a master bedroom measuring over 7,000 square feet. When it was first completed in 1991, it had a dining room with a table for 22 guests, a bowling alley, a cinema, a wine cellar, a doll museum and a gift-wrapping and flower-cutting room.

The Manor was also a place to host guests, but as the actress shared, her mother was not too fond of throwing parties and only held “two or three.” Though, when she did throw a party, they were huge. One of these celebrations was in honor of Charles, Prince of Wales, said Spelling. “The first party, and one of her only parties, was for Prince Charles,” she remembered. “When he came to town, he wanted to have it there!”

Although the actress did not mention when the event took place, it is likely to have been held in 1994, when the heir to the British throne spent five days in Los Angeles and stayed at the Hotel Bel-Air.

Another party that took place at The Manor was Spelling’s own wedding to writer and actor Charlie Shahnaian in July 2004, which Forbes magazine in 2007 described as one of the 20 most expensive weddings in history, costing more than €725,000 ($792,400). The couple divorced two years later in October 2005, when Spelling had begun a relationship with her second husband, Canadian actor Dean McDermott. The actress and McDermott married in Fiji in May 2006, and have five children together. “I’d love to take my kids there [Candyland] and be like, ‘Yeah, this is grandpa’s house.’ Because they would have loved to have met him,” said Spelling in the podcast.

In the podcast, Spelling said that her father built the sprawling mansion out of love for his wife. “He really built that because it was my mom’s dream, and he wanted her to be happy,” she explained. “He was so in love with her.”

The Spellings lived in Candyland for over 25 years. In 2006, Aaron Spelling passed away and his widow, Candy Spelling, put it up for sale in 2009. At the time, Candy Spelling told People magazine: “I spent four years, 24-7, planning this house. Now I need something smaller – just for me. I’m going to have to give up some things, but it’s time for a change.”

In 2011, the house was bought by Petra Ecclestone, the daughter of Formula One racing magnate Bernie Ecclestone, for $105 million (around €100 million). In 2019, she sold it for $120 million (about €109 million). Celebrity couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z were reportedly interested in buying it. Today, The Manor is back on the market, with the real estate agency Hilton & Hyland listing it for $165 million (around €149 million), which would make it the third most expensive property in Los Angeles.