This ginormous golden beauty stopped us in our tracks.

Built in 1891, the Golden Gate Villa is in Santa Cruz, California. A Santa Cruz Historical Trust Landmark, it was designed by architect Thomas J. Walsh.

Major Frank McLaughlin, a mining engineer and California politician, was its original owner.

Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Edison were among the visitors here.

In 1940, the house opened as a restaurant called Palais Monte Carlo. By 1963, it was sold to seafood magnate William W. Durney and his wife, screenwriter Dorothy Kingsley. She wrote and worked on more than 30 movies between 1949-1961.

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.