But with apologies to Mansfield's heirs, heart-shaped pools have become a dime a dozen.
Listing a property with out-of-the-ordinary features is a double-edged sword, real-estate agents say. Unusual amenities that draw attention to a listing also can narrow the field of potential buyers. A house built in the shape of a guitar might be a conversation piece, but who really wants to sleep in the frets?
More often than not, unusual amenities come about because someone created a home to suit his or her needs without giving thought to selling someday -- such as the two-story river-rock bathroom in the Topanga, Calif., home of Rita George that she designed and had built by hand. It's part of her rock and boulder house, constructed by stone artisans. To enter the tub and shower, she climbs three rock steps. A cupola ceiling and arched etched-glass windows complete the stone-castle look.
"This house is part of me," said George, who has no intention of selling. "They'll have to drag me out of here when I'm 105. I love this house."
But a Malibu compound is for sale with multiple one-of-a-kind features. Owner Douglas Busch is a photographer whose portfolio was bought by the Getty and whose work appears in numerous other museums. He designed and built the complex at the top of Trancas Canyon Road three years ago.
The 10-acre property, which has a 4,500-square-foot main house, provides plenty that's out of the ordinary. To start, in the master bedroom, the portion of the roof over the bed fully retracts by remote control, opening the room to the elements. Several inches of water cover another flat roof of the multilevel house, and a pump keeps things moving in a babbling-brook kind of way. Steppingstones lead to lounge chairs. A separate sitting-sleeping deck is surrounded by water with an outdoor fireplace.
And that's just the roof.
Busch's detached studio -- all 4,000 square feet of it -- is surrounded by water. Water flows under it from the pond that it sits in, and the front door is reached by steppingstones.
Busch said that some of the home's more unusual features reflect his own passions.
Take, for example, his feelings about running water. He likes it in the gentle Zen-waterfall way, soothing and quiet.
There is also a 110,000-gallon swimming pool plus what by comparison might sound like fairly mundane amenities: a pool cabana with sauna and a complete outdoor kitchen.
The ocean-view property is listed for $9.75 million.
The market for properties such as this is small, real-estate agent Shirley Sherman said.
Malibu, she noted, has a lot of homes with unusual features. One home for sale has a recording studio and a dance and workout room. With 9,200 square feet, it is listed at about $12 million and is just waiting for the right celebrity owner.
Originality, of course, is not unique to Malibu. The granddaddy of homes with outrageous amenities sits in Bel-Air -- the five-bedroom house that Wilt Chamberlain built in 1971 and lived in until his death in 1999. Chamberlain installed a gold-lined hot tub, retractable mirrored ceiling above the master bed and a wraparound swimming pool that extended into the living room. The subsequent owners have removed many of the original features, and the house is back on the market, listed at a hair less than $10 million.
Two Hollywood TV writers purchased the 8,000-square-foot house from Chamberlain's estate in 2002 for almost $3 million and extensively remodeled it -- although the retractable ceiling in the bedroom remains.
What is whimsy to one owner might find its way to the trash heap when a house is sold. Renee Johnson can't imagine that happening to the $60,000 customized treehouse that sits in her family's La Crescenta, Calif., front yard. It's actually two treehouses that are connected by a cantilever bridge. One side houses a library and game room, the other has bunk beds and a working kitchen with hot and cold running water. There is Internet and cable.
The Johnsons installed it four years ago for their two children.
"Everyone who comes here says it makes them feel like a kid again," Renee said.
Does she think it will help or hinder the eventual sale of her house?
"It will absolutely be the selling point."