In the market for a mansion?

Complete with marble columns and a theater room, the grand old house known as the Kellogg Mansion is for sale.

DUNEDIN - Stroll through the wrought iron gate, down the red brick driveway to the front steps of 129 Buena Vista Drive and you might forget where you are.

But pass through the grand foyer and out French doors leading to the back of the property, and you'll find that the vista of the water suggests a certain geography.

Somewhere in the Mediterranean, perhaps.

Or paradise.

And for $4.5-million, it can be yours.

"It's very unique," said Paula Angenendt, an agent with Realty Executives, which is handling the sale of the mansion.

"I have a lot of affinity for this home because I think a lot of love and care went into it - built in 1925 and everything is still working."

For slightly more than a week, the property has been for sale. The last owner, William L. "Bill" Matthew, lived there for almost 40 years. He died in December and left the estate - including much of the furniture - in trust to be sold.

Matthew moved to Dunedin in 1964, establishing his home and newspaper brokerage business in the house that has, for years, been known as the Kellogg Mansion, after the cereal magnate who once used it as a winter home.

Dunedin Isles, where the home is located, was developed between 1925 and 1929 by Edward Frischkorn, a Detroit businessman who dreamed of building a city within a city for 50,000 people.

He built the five-bedroom home on Buena Vista Drive as his personal home but sold it later to W.K. Kellogg of Battle Creek, Mich.

The interior of the two-story home is regal.

Walls throughout the sprawling villa overlooking St. Joseph Sound are covered with canvas and hand-painted by artist Don Ringelspaugh. Many of the wall paintings are Mediterranean-style landscapes depicting statues, gardens and sea views.

Throughout most of the house are white marble columns and floors.

Downstairs, on the south end of the house, is a living room - as large as a three-car garage - with one of the house's four marble fireplaces. Four small chandeliers surround a larger one over a round, Victorian style card table.

Thick red carpet leads visitors into the formal dining room, which also showcases the artwork painted on the walls. Burgundy velvet hugs the bottom third of the wall around the entire room.

Next to the dining room is a vast eat-in kitchen with a red, blue and green stained-glass window bearing the Matthew family crest. The floor is stone, and the appliances are modern.

Outside the kitchen, a set of back stairs lead to an upstairs hallway lined with secret doors to storage and other rooms.

"There are all kinds of secret doors and passages that even I don't know about," Angenendt said, adding that the groundskeeper, who still lives there, does.

The groundskeeper was unavailable for comment.

Upstairs are bedrooms generously decorated with antique furniture and sconce light fixtures.

An open sitting area in the center of the floor is near an arched window offering an almost priceless view of the water.

But easily the most surprising corner of the house is the disco-themed theater room perched in the highest point of the house's west side. Obviously added after 1925, the room is equipped with carpeted walls, a large-screen projector, a dance floor and leather lounge chairs.

At the push of a button, canvas drapes retract from the ceiling, revealing a skylight with a dangling disco ball. Drapes can also be mechanically drawn to show off a panoramic view of the grounds through large windows that wrap around three sides of the room.

The mansion also has a detached one-bedroom guest house with a living room, bathroom, full-service bar and office on its second floor.

The grounds are carfully manicured with magnolia, palm and jacaranda trees, with a flower garden meandering along the mansion's north side.

A dock extends about 40 feet into water that will accommodate boats with a 16-foot draft.

With all that, who would care if there is no pool?

- Leon M. Tucker can be reached at 727-445-4167 or tucker@sptimes.com

Architect: Addison Mizner

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