As a former HGTV.com correspondent, a current Yahoo Real Estate writer and a fifth generation L.A. resident and journalist who covers entertainment, real estate and lifestyle, I’ve been inside many of the finest, most outrageous, and most prestigious homes ever built in Southern California. Yet I was absolutely overwhelmed when I drove through the gates of Artemesia, the largest Craftsman style residence in the entire U.S.A. Dare I say it’s also the most beautiful home in the Hollywood Hills?

I am absolutely gobsmacked that it hasn’t been snatched up by now. It’s been on the market for almost four years, and at a price that would shame most Bel Air or Beverly Hills estates of equal size: $9,995,000. Some pretty high profile people have considered it, among them Denise Richards, Adam Levine, and actress/model/heiress Lydia Hearst, as well as some members of the Rothschild family – and famed art collector and publisher Benedikt Taschen, who both entered and exited escrow recently.

When you consider this property is unrivaled anywhere else in the world, you begin to understand why it interests such high profile types. The meticulously restored main residence measures 13,290 square feet, and overlooks its own canyon on a nearly 2-acre lot with abundant native California flora and fauna. In fact, when I visited Artemesia, I was startled to glance out and see a doe and her fawn looking right back at me, not more than five feet away.

The residence is perched on a hillside, overlooking the shimmering lights of Hollywood – the glamour without the gauche. And speaking of glamour, if you lived at Artemesia, you would actually look down on the Hollywood Hills home of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Although theirs could also be described as a Craftsman, it doesn’t hold a candle to Artemesia.

Owner Leonard Fenton bought the property almost 30 years ago, when he was in his 20s and was professionally involved in advertising and marketing.

“It didn’t look like this,” he recalls. “It was dark and shabby, and the shakes had deteriorated. But it reminded me of a ski lodge I’d seen in Norway, and once I opened the 5-foot-wide front door, I decided to buy it.”

He then began the painstaking process of what he calls “the perfect restoration.”

Find out more about this fabulous renovation, see some of the most mouthwatering photos you’ve ever laid eyes on, and speculate, along with Fenton, about why he hasn’t found the right buyer yet, in my feature on Yahoo Real Estate.

Part of the renovation involved sprucing up the five Murphy beds on the outdoor sleeping porch. Can you imagine the fun slumber parties the kids could have there?