A freshly minted Cary Grant was at home here
After signing a five-year contract with Paramount in 1932, English actor Archie Leach became Cary Grant.
That year, the 28-year-old, destined to become one of the most celebrated movie stars of Hollywood’s golden age, met actor Randolph Scott on the set of Paramount’s “Hot Saturday,” and the two moved into a house near Griffith Park.
The Spanish Colonial Revival walled estate in the Oaks area of Los Feliz is still referred to as Grant’s former home, and it is a subject of the book “Dream Palaces of Hollywood’s Golden Age,” by David Wallace.
In 1934, Grant married actress Virginia Cherrill, who played the blind flower girl in Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights.” Grant carried his bride over the threshold of this house, the Wallace book says. The couple divorced in 1935. Grant, who remarried four times, died in 1986.
About this house: It was built in 1929 for David W. Pontius, president of the Pacific Electric Co., whose Red Cars traversed the L.A. Basin. The home, purchased in 1994 by film production designer Charles Breen and his wife, Monique, underwent a seven-year restoration.
Asking price: $3,995,000
Size: There are four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in 6,727 square feet. The rooms are on a grand scale.
Features: There are views from downtown to the ocean, original stained glass, ornate molding, authentic period tiles, a small grassy yard and a guest apartment.
Where: It’s on a site high in the Oaks of Los Feliz.
Listing agents: Brett Lawyer, (310) 888-3808, and Jonah Wilson, (310) 888-3870, both of Sotheby’s International Realty, Sunset.
To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos on a CD with caption information and a detailed description of the house, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Questions may be sent to homeoftheweek @latimes.com.
