Buyer’s choice: Big or bigger
LOS ANGELES— On the heels of the record-setting sale of the Playboy Mansion, another storied Westside estate is ready to up the ante.
Attorney-businessman Leonard M. Ross has listed his Beverly Hills home back on the market for $195 million US — a $30-million uptick in price from when it was last publicly listed for sale nine years ago.
Alternatively, the buyer can buy just a portion of the estate for $175 million; in that scenario, a seven-bedroom house would not be included.
Known as the Beverly House, the grand estate was built for local banker Milton Getz and later owned by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and actor Marion Davies.
Adding another layer of pedigree, the multi-acre property is where Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy honeymooned after exchanging vows in 1953. Scenes from the movies The Godfather and The Bodyguard were also filmed on the property.
The H-shaped mansion, designed by Gordon Kaufmann and completed in the 1920s, is entered through a two-storey gatehouse and reached by a long private drive. A motor court and a fountain mark the front entrance.
Inside, the more than 50,000 square feet of interior space evokes the grandeur of Old Hollywood. Among the eyecatching details are carved and arched ceilings, panelled walls and period furnishings. The living room, which was designed by Davies and Hearst, doubles as a theatre, complete with a dropdown screen and projection portals.
Other features of note include a 50-foot entry hall with a loggia, a garden-view bar and a two-storey library with hand-carved woodwork. A separate billiard room retains its original herringbone parquet floors and a fireplace that was moved down from Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California.
Upstairs, a central hallway connects bedroom wings for family as well as staff quarters. There are 30 bedrooms and 40 bathrooms in all.
A lighted tennis court, a swimming pool, two ponds, loggias, fountains and formal landscaping fill the grounds. A separate twobedroom apartment and a onebedroom security cottage also sit on the property.
The Beverly House’s fourth owner, Ross has lived in the residence for nearly four decades.
Going Dutch in Montecito
A Montecito estate owned by Justin Chang, principal of Los Angeles-based real estate investment company Colony Capital, and his wife, Legally Blonde author Amanda Brown, is on the market for $18.5 million.
Chang isn’t the only pillar of industry attached to the estate of more than three acres. He and his wife bought the property four years ago from the estate of Jack McGinley, a former vice-president of Baxter Healthcare, for $16.8 million. William LaWarre, a Cincinnati ad man turned rancher, is another former homeowner.
Designed by architect Ambrose Cramer and built in 1931, the Cape Dutch-style estate sits in a backdrop of the Santa Ynez Mountains with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. Elaborately rounded gables, sets of double-hung windows and a whitewashed facade are characteristic of the style popularized in the Western Cape of South Africa during the early 17th century.
Within the 9,771 square feet of living space are a living room topped with a fireplace, a formal dining room, a media/game room, six bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Curved and beamed cathedral ceilings lend a light and airy feel to the kitchen and adjoining breakfast room.
Outdoors, manicured grounds originally designed by landscape architect Lockwood de Forest are filled with rolling lawns, formal landscaping and a large reflecting pool. Elsewhere is a five-car garage.
Guys like him, they had it made
The Malibu home of late actor Carroll O’Connor, best known for his role as Archie Bunker on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family and his wife, Nancy Fields O’Connor, has sold for $9.3 million.
Sitting on a deep swath of sand on Broad Beach, the oceanfront home is an eye-catcher for its Moorish influences. Loggias with arched openings set the tone for the home, which was built in 1974. Decorative tile and a green-hued roof create visual contrast against a white-walled exterior.
Inside, more than 3,600 square feet of interior space includes a living room, a dining area, three bedrooms, four bathrooms and a sauna. Arched double doors off the common rooms open to an inner courtyard with a swimming pool, and a second-floor balcony overlooks 42 feet of beachfront.
The O’Connor family had owned the house for more than 30 years.
Carroll O’Connor, who died in 2001 at 76, won multiple Emmys for his role as Bunker. He also starred in the spinoff series, Archie Bunker’s Place, and, starting in the late ’80s, the crime drama In the Heat of the Night.
Nancy Fields O’Connor, who died in 2004 at 84, was a documentary filmmaker and author.
Pre-season win in Manhattan Beach
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll didn’t wait for the season to begin to nail down his first win of the year. Carroll last week sold an investment property in Manhattan Beach for $2.05 million — $51,000 more than the asking price.
Built in the 1930s, the twostorey beach house came to market in August and went from pending to closed in about two weeks, records show. Carroll, a longtime South Bay resident, bought the house in 1999 for $540,000.
The 1,200 square feet of living space, with a partial ocean view from the second floor, includes a living room, a galley-style kitchen, a breakfast nook, two bedrooms and 1.75 bathrooms. A staircase off the master suite leads down to a brick-lined patio. There’s also a separate laundry room, as well as storage and a one-car garage. Before the sale, the house had been offered for lease at $4,500 a month.
Carroll, 64, has ties to Southern California, having coached the USC Trojans from 2001 to 2009 and winning two national championships. He has coached the Seahawks since 2010, winning two NFC championships and the Super Bowl in 2013.