A family dedicated to real estate for over 120 years

Panorama, as many know, is Marbella’s longest established Real Estate Agency, founded in 1970, with a reputation for providing a highly professional and quality service that stands alongside those of the best agencies in the world. What most people are unaware of is that Christopher Clover, Panorama’s owner and Managing Director, comes from a three generation-old family of real estate agents and entrepreneurs. The fourth generation of professionals, Christopher’s children, Alex and Katinka, are also key members of Panorama’s team who joined the company after the turn of the century.

Christopher’s grandfather, Burtt Byron Clover, was one of the first golf course developers in the United States, and a developer of single family homes in Chicago. In 1904, after having worked for four years with W.A. Marigold and Company as manager of their real estate agency, he founded B.B. Clover and Company, a real estate and property development company headquartered on Evanston Avenue in Chicago. B.B. Clover began building and selling single family homes in and around the village of Itasca in the Chicago suburbs, and opened a branch office there to help promote his developments. He transformed Itasca into a highly desirable place to live and enjoy a comfortable suburban lifestyle, catalysing a small population explosion which the town enjoyed during the 1920’s and 30’s. One of B.B. Clover’s first and major contributions to Itasca was a golf course and a clubhouse built on the land originally owned by the first settler in the area of Itasca. Today, the Itasca Country Club still stands as one of the most luxurious residential landmarks of the Chicago suburbs.

When B.B. retired in 1952, he opened Clover Realty Company in Charlottesville, Virginia with his son, Christopher’s father, Williston (Bill) L. Clover, who continued the family tradition as a Real Estate Broker and Property Developer for over 40 years. Charlottesville is a beautiful town in central Virginia some two hours drive south of Washington DC. Charlottesville, Chris’s hometown, is also the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson (the third President of the United States) and the home of the University of Virginia (the nation’s top-ranked public university) where Chris graduated with distinction in 1969, followed by his son, Alex, in 1998.

At the helm of Clover Realty Company, Bill became one of the leading brokers of farms and estates in this very wealthy and beautiful area of the United States. Over years of hard work, and thanks to his stellar reputation, he sold many of the outstanding properties and historical estates in this part of the United States’ eastern coast.

Bill, who passed away in 2010, was also a cattle farmer and pioneer in breeding techniques of purebred and championship Aberdeen Angus cattle, an athlete once nationally ranked in tennis, an accomplished architect, a teacher and an inventor, as well as a builder and a property developer with several developments in and around Charlottesville to his credit. But Bill had always aspired for his business to reach beyond the borders of the United States and for that reason, in 1968, he acquired a Washington DC-based company, Panorama International Ltd.

Panorama International was the first company to offer international properties and developments to investors in the United States. The company distinguished itself by selling second and retirement homes in Mexico, the Caribbean, France, Morocco, and most notably Spain.

It established the first international real estate office in Marbella in 1970 and shortly thereafter, offices in Mexico City and Mallorca. At that time Marbella was in the early stages of establishing itself as a quality resort destination. The company specialised in selling quality developments primarily to Americans, and succeeded far beyond expectations. Panorama International was the first real estate agency to ever organise inspection flights to the Costa del Sol. The buyers came in droves, inspired by Bill Clover’s professionalism, integrity and reputation, as well as Spain’s unique allure and its excellent comparative prices. Christopher Clover graduated from St. Andrew’s School in Delaware in 1965, and received his degree in Economics as mentioned above from the University of Virginia in 1969. He took part in a study abroad program with the University of Lyon in France in 1967 and 1968. After graduation he taught French at the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland for two years, before joining his father and brother (Williston H. Clover) at Panorama International in Washington DC in 1971.

Armed with a strong linguistic background and after gaining extensive experience in marketing and sales with Panorama’s Washington office, Chris arrived in Spain in February 1973 on his 26th birthday, taking charge of Panorama International’s Marbella office, which at that time mostly served to receive the clients sent to it from the United States. In that same year, and with the wholehearted support of his father, Chris expanded the Spanish office to concentrate on the listing and sale of prestige properties in the Marbella area to an international market. Over the years, Panorama has sold properties to clients from forty different countries. (Read Chris’s article about “Marbella of the ‘70’s” on the Panorama blog).

In 1975 Panorama International closed its Washington DC office due to a combination of a strong recession and new securities legislation that made it impossible to continue the business as it had been originally structured. Chris’s philosophy of focusing on a specific area and marketing properties in that area to a national and international audience encouraged Chris’s brother Bill to also transform Panorama International’s Mexico office, over time, into a world-class international resort consulting and finance company, today known as Panorama International, Inc.

Bill personally performed consulting missions in over 65 countries, while his company was active in several dozen more. He was based in San Antonio, Texas, where he presided over Panorama International, Inc. He was also an active and invaluable consultant to Chris’s own company. Bill is sadly no longer with us, having passed away in December 2022. From its base in Marbella, Panorama has accomplished everything from finding and managing properties for Royalty, to managing the acquisition on behalf of the Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia of an Embassy building in Tokyo.

Major deals have included selling large tracts of land on the Costa del Sol to prime office buildings in Madrid and London, but Panorama’s main activity has always been the marketing of quality residential properties in the Marbella area to a national and international clientele. Providing a high level of personal service, coupled with firm professional ethics and integrity, and competence in negotiation, Panorama has earned an outstanding and long-lasting reputation achieved by few agencies.

Today, Panorama has two offices on Marbella’s prestigious Golden Mile, where the “quality image” of Marbella began with the establishment of the Marbella Club in the early 1950’s. A team comprised of 30 professionals work from the two offices. Truly keeping up with their international clientele, combined staff members speak thirteen different languages. The company has grown so it also handles commercial and investment properties, and quality property rentals. Additionally, it operates a boutique real estate agency called Puente Romano Real Estate in collaboration with the Puente Romano Beach Resort.

Since his arrival in Marbella, Christopher Clover has been active not only as a leader in the Real Estate community but also in civic affairs. The biggest family reward however, is that both of Christopher’s children are active in the business – Alex is a vital link managing new projects for the company, and Katinka, a graduate from the American University of Paris, has become Panorama’s Vice-Managing Director. The fourth generation of Clovers to maintain the family business is now a reality.

Christopher: “The guiding principles of Panorama are the family values of fair, honest and transparent dealing, accompanied by a lot of hard work, as taught by my father to me and by his father to him. Any success we have had is thanks to following these principles carefully, and to our dedicated and talented staff, the invaluable support of our many friends, our ability to adapt to changing markets, and to learn from and collaborate with our competitors.”

• 1904 B.B. Clover opens his first real estate agency headquartered in Chicago on Evanston Avenue (later at 69 W. Washington Avenue in the Chicago Title and Trust Building) followed by a second branch in the town of Itasca with the intention of developing Itasca into a desirable place to build a home and enjoy a comfortable suburban lifestyle.
• 1915 Williston L. Clover was born.
• 1925 One of the first golf course developers in the United States, B.B. Clover built a golf course and a clubhouse on the land originally owned by the first settler in the area of Itasca. The Itasca Country Club still stands today as one of the most luxurious establishments of the Chicago suburbs.

• 1926 B.B. Clover’s grand plan to develop Itasca as a glamorous Chicago suburb in the 1920’s included building a handsome half-timbered commercial building, today a landmark in the town’s Historical District.
• 1939 Williston L. Clover moves to Charlottesville, Virginia and becomes a Black Angus Cattle Farmer and Tennis Professor at the University of Virginia. Williston H. Clover, Chris’s older brother, was born.
• 1947 Christopher H. Clover was born.
• 1952 B.B. Clover and his son Williston (Bill) L.Clover open the Clover Realty Company in Charlottesville, Virginia. The company is still in business today, although under different ownership, in its original building in the town’s historical Court Square.

• 1960s Bill Clover develops several residential developments in and around Charlottesville, Virginia. “Montvue” and “West Leigh” are, to this date, still among Charlottesville’s most luxurious real estate developments.
• 1966 Panorama International Ltd. is formed in Washington DC and is the first company to offer international properties and developments to investors in the United States.
• 1966 Bill Clover acquires Panorama International Ltd.
• 1970 Panorama International opens Marbella’s first international real estate office in the Edificio Capitol on Avenida Ricardo Soriano. Right: First advertisement in 1970.
• 1971 Christopher Clover joins his father and brother at Panorama International in 1971 in Washington DC.
• 1973 Christopher Clover takes over Panorama International’s offices in Marbella.

• 1975 Christopher Clover forms an independent company, decides to transform the long-term goals of the Marbella office, and begins the marketing of prestige properties in the area.

• 1976 Alex Clover was born.
• 1979 Katinka Clover was born.
• 1995 Panorama capitalises on its success and reputation and opens offices in the most prestigious areas of Marbella, at the Puente Romano Hotel and directly opposite the Marbella Club Hotel.
• 1996 Panorama launches one of the first Internet websites specific to the Marbella area. Today the Panorama website is in 5 languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Dutch.
• 2001 Alex Clover joins Panorama to help fine-tune the company’s image and implement a series of internal improvements.
• 2003 Katinka Clover joins Panorama. Christopher’s brother, Williston H. Clover, becomes a permanent consultant to the company.
• 2003 Panorama launches its magazine “The Marbella Property Magazine”. In addition to the awardwinning Market Report, written by Christopher Clover, it contains other interesting articles both for buyers and sellers, as well as an excellent selection of properties.
• 2010 Panorama celebrates 40 years in Marbella! In Memoriam: Bill Clover, Panorama’s Founder.

• 2015 Christopher Clover accepted a unanimous nomination as Eminent Fellow by the prestigious Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
• 2016 Panorama is approved as a real estate agency “Regulated by RICS”.
• 2016 Christopher Clover receives the Lifetime Achievement Award of REAS.
• 2019 Panorama & Puente Romano announce their joint venture, opening the Puente Romano Real Estate office to serve hotel guests.
• 2020 Panorama celebrates their 50th anniversary in Marbella. The sales office in Puente Romano undergoes extensive refurbishment.
• 2021 Panorama wins ‘Best Real Estate Agency Single Office in Spain’ at the prestigious European Property Awards. Record sale of landmark property by FaceTime. A new website is launched.
• 2022 Katinka Clover and Alfonso Muñoz, become AssocRICS members. Record sale of property in excess of 15 million.
• 2022 Panorama creates a Commercial and Investment Division, headed by Rocio Quesada, to provide private and institutional clients with quality brokerage services.
• 2022 After 20 years of Katinka’ Clover’s dedication to Panorama and leading Listings and Marketing Departments, she is promoted to ViceManaging Director.

by Williston H. Clover © 2023 Panorama Properties S.L. Originally published in 2004