A peek inside 'The Bachelorette' mansion

Want to sneak a look at the "Bachelorette" mansion, where Emily Maynard's suitors stayed while they were in Charlotte for the series' taping? The address -- 16424 Marvin Road -- is easy to pinpoint on a map, and a ridiculously short (4-minute) drive from Ballantyne Village in South Charlotte.

But most people will never see it.

Not surprisingly, a black iron gate will greet anyone trying to get into the private community in which the 12,000-square-foot house is nestled, although if you could get through ... it's the second house on the left.

I got a chance to tour the $5.9 million Mediterranean-style residence on Tuesday thanks to Peters & Associates, Inc., the brokerage firm that is listing the property for owner Sajjan Dhaliwal of Jas-Am Group. The house, built in 2006 at a cost of $8 million, has been on the market for more than three years.

It's easy to see why ABC selected this home from the moment you walk through the front door and into the massive foyer (featured prominently in Monday night's premiere, as Emily greeted each of the 25 men). To the immediate left is the "grand ballroom" where the rose ceremonies took place, with its 20-foot-tall marble fireplace, mahogany trim, and gold flaking ("It's actually melted-down gold, and hand painted," broker Nick Peters told us).

Among many, many jaw-dropping features: a media room upstairs that had to have been 1,000 square feet -- so big that the billiards table in the middle of it looked remarkably tiny; the backyard pool fed by a 15-foot-wide waterfall and flanked by stone elephants; an elevator large enough for six people; and silk window treatments throughout the house that cost, all together, more than $400,000.

In addition to the rose ceremony room, I got to see the backyard swing sofa where Emily took multiple guys for private conversations and the dark-mahogany-toned room off the master suite where she gave Doug the First Impression Rose.

Nothing about this place is typical. Solid wool carpeting that cost $50 a square. ("Normal carpeting in a house is gonna range from $2 to $3 a square foot," Peters said.) A completely soundproof room behind the media room, with its own half bath. ("Their son plays guitars and drums. Close that door, you can't hear it anywhere in the house.") Restored bathroom tiles that came from an old building in India, at a cost of $180 a tile. A urinal in the men's room off the dining room.

On Monday night's premiere episode of "The Bachelorette," one of the men showed up late, arriving in his own private helicopter. The other guys groaned that it was overkill, excessive, over-the-top. Ironic, considering that -- at least on camera -- they didn't make a similar remark about the house itself.

Check out Observer photographer Todd Sumlin's photos of the "Bachelorette" mansion here.