Luxury Living: Art Deco Style in Miami Beach

"How are you Belkys..."

But once you step inside

It's 78-hundred square feet of fabulosity...

"Wow do you think you have enough chandeliers..."

"The minute I walked in the front door and saw the chandeliers and that living room I fell int love with the house..."

But when Craig Eberhardt bought this Art Deco gem it wasn't the masterpiece it is today.

Craig says, "In its last incarnation they say that it was basically it was a brothel upstairs and a crack house downstairs it had been divided into 17 bedrooms and now its just fabulous..."

The home was originally built in 1959 for the great one himself Jackie Gleason..

Back in the day this sunken dining room was actually used by Gleason and friends as a dance floor...

"This is the original sound system from the house they went through the entire house with microphone jacks and everything so when there were parties they could have singers there were speakers in the wall...unheard of in 1959..."

From the lucite doorknobs

To the original cabinet pulls in the now remodeled kitchen

To Jackie Gleason's very own 18 foot bar. Craig tried to preserve as much of the original details in the house as possible.

"Remember that...from the 1960's before my time...mmm..."

"Everything that was here that was of any architectural value I took it out of the house and brought back in after the renovation and reused it..."

There are 8 bedrooms and 7 and a half bathrooms in the home...

4 of the master suites have their own bathrooms and large walk in closets right inside...

"I like to put the closets in the master bathroom cuz that's where most people get dressed and if the closets a little messy and your sitting inside your bedroom reading or something you don't have to look at it...

Downstairs -- there's a fountain...yes a fountain...I'll let Craig explain..

"Because the main part of the house and the entrance was in the second floor I didn't ever want you to feel like you were going into the basement well yeahhhhh....it works..."

What can I say I was speechless but I did make a wish in Craig's fountain.

"Don't be fishing out my coin later Craig cuz I need for my wish to come true which basically is to get a raise so I can live in a house like this...ok..."

The fountain room leads us into what Craig calls the Austin Powers room.

It's 1-thousand square feet of fun complete with full bar area and a 65 inch TV with all the hi-tech fixins.

"This is where we generally watch Deco Drive and other TV shows...what do you mean other TV shows.."

Just around the corner yet another luxury living surprise.

"So you couldn't just have a gym which is fabulous enough on its own...you had to have a spa a whirlpool in here as well...of course...I hit him...why does he get to have all the fun..."

It wasn't all fun and games for Craig it took 6 months of planning and an entire year of construction to bring the home back to it's original splendor.

"I was here every day almost all day I had an office here I was making sure everything was turning out the way I wanted it..."

Too bad now I want it....

Craig is ready to move on to his next renovation project. The Jackie Gleason house is for sale for about 2.5 million dollars.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Contact: bnerey@wsvn.com

Carson Realty Group: http://www.carsonrealtygroup.com