68 DIGS.NET
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1.10.2020
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ot long after arriving from India, Raju Chhabria drove
to Palos Verdes for a job interview. "I looked around
and thought, 'this place is beautiful. Someday I want
to own a house here.'" Five years on, in 1989, he did. A decade
later, having made the Peninsula his home, the fast-rising real
estate agent set his sights on building a dream home for him
and his young family. "My inspiration was to build a Taj Mahal,"
says Chhabria good-naturedly. In this case, his palace was
a custom, Tuscan-style estate designed by Tony Ashai, an
architect of lavish properties from Southern California to Dubai.
After passing through the property's front gates and along its
lengthy, palm-lined driveway, one is immersed in a luxurious,
well-manicured world featuring softly bubbling fountains and
fragrant English rose gardens with box hedges; a shaded
sports court and a putting green. Walk along a neat stone
pathway and reach a luxurious sprawl of lounging, from a
gleaming outdoor kitchen housed under a pagoda roof, to
a blazing fire pit surrounded by half moon-shaped seating.
Steps away is a spacious patio where a spa and infinity pool
take center stageāit's just one of many scenes here that are
made grander by the stirring backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.
Notable on this property is how skillfully each corner is
utilized, all while retaining the feeling of spaciousness
that luxury requires. Privacy too. "We don't have close
neighbors," says Philo Chhabria, who raised her family here
and, as a real estate agent, knows homes. "It's very private."
In front of the property and along one side are peaceful
stretches of canyon owned by the city. Also, there's a flat,
even-keeled slope to the property, which makes it effortless
to navigate and stroll about. The Chhabrias point out that