Max Mutchnick Nabs Mansion in Beverly Hills (EXCLUSIVE)

“Will & Grace” co-creator Max Mutchnick and high-powered entertainment industry attorney Erik Hyman have splashed out nearly $14.5 million for a Beverly Hills mansion sold by Symantec CEO Greg Clark and previously owned by televised talent competition tycoon Simon Fuller. Built in the 1920s and partly obscured behind a tall hedge and perfectly pruned row of trees on the high point of an almost one-acre parcel, the rambling, multilevel mansion measures in at about 8,000 square feet with four bedrooms and five full and three half bathrooms plus a one-bedroom and one-bathroom guesthouse.

The exterior of the aggressively asymmetrical, vaguely English country cottage-style residence has been painted a dour, depressing shade of prison gray, and the rambling interiors, likely to get a thorough overhaul by the design-savvy couple, who have a well-known and deep-pocketed penchant for bespoke décor, have been all but entirely stripped of original architectural details and replaced with flashy, minimalistic flourishes. There are dark, almost black hardwood floors, a sculptural floating staircase and a shimmery, silver-leafed ceiling treatment in a window-lined billiard room. The lowest floor is given over to various recreation and entertainment options including a spacious media lounge with wet bar, a climate controlled walk-in wine cellar and a pint-size fitness room with the floor painted in a bold, particularly awful shade of purple. There’s an over-the-treetops view of the Downtown and Century City skylines from a broad, elevated terrace that runs along the back of the house. A grassy lower yard features a simple rectangular pool girdled by a fastidiously clipped hedgerow.