9 Arrowhead Estates

It took years for Les Mankofsky and his wife Myles to renovate their Arrowhead Estates house into their dream property. They focused on every tiny detail in the 7,100-square-foot home, creating what they found to be a perfect place to entertain and also escape for privacy. “When we first moved in, I couldn’t wait to sit in every room,” Myles says. “Every space has something so different and special to offer. Some rooms you want to meditate in, some you want to get up and dance in.”

While the Mankofskys have lived in the home since 2003, the St. Louis natives intend to move to California. Their son and daughter-in-law now reside there, and they want to live by the ocean. “Yes, it’s really hard to leave,” Myles says. “If we could move the house to California, we’d do it in a second.” To help bring the ocean a little closer to them, the Mankofskys installed a 375-gallon aquarium on the main level of their home. One of their favorite places to sit was around the kitchen island near the aquarium. “We love to scuba dive, and we love sea life,” Les says.

The house was designed to look like a California home on the inside and a Colorado resort on the outside. “We took it from a five-bedroom home to a three-bedroom one so we could make all the rooms bigger,” Les says. “One bedroom was turned into a dressing room for Myles.” With a car collection that includes a Lotus, Porsche, Audi and Ferrari, Les—a former Formula Atlantic race car driver—had a freestanding nine-car garage and a three-car attached garage. Myles calls the former the ultimate man cave. She, on the other hand, says she’ll miss the exercise room most. “I had a TV that swiveled 360 degrees,” she says. “The walls are covered in mirrors. It has everything someone needs for a good workout, and it definitely helped me train for a few triathlons. You can just go right upstairs and get whatever you need done.”

New Year’s parties became regular affairs in the home, small and intimate dinner parties were common, and so were elegant evenings when celebrating special events. “We often would gather around the kitchen island,” Myles says. “People loved to look at the fish. It’s just very peaceful and serene. When we had a small group, we would gather there with champagne and drinks. It was conducive to good conversation—both humorous and serious!”