Newsletter: Hot Property: Our post-turkey workout
While we did take some time out for turkey, we like to think that Hot Property and the celebrity housing market never rest. This week’s offerings include an A-lister abode in New Orleans and a Beverly Crest mansion with a long history of Hollywood owners.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Splitting up their assets
In Part 1 of their great property divide, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have found a buyer for their New Orleans row house, which went for $4.9 million.
Dating to the 1830s, the traditional house has a front balcony and dormer windows that overlook the French Quarter. The A-list actors bought the property, which includes a three-story main residence and a guest house, in 2007 for $3.5 million.
As is common with many vintage properties in the historic area, a private courtyard separates the three-story main residence from the back guesthouse, which would have originally been servants’ quarters.
Among the divorcing couple’s other real estate holdings is Château Miraval, a vineyard and residence in the south of France, for which they paid $60 million in 2012. They also own a craftsman compound in the Los Feliz area and an apartment in New York’s Waldorf-Astoria.
Amid a public separation, Pitt and Jolie sold their home in New Orleans for $4.9 million. (Realtor.com | Inset: Associated Press)
There’s no place like this home
The Beverly Crest estate originally built for Bert Lahr, the actor who played the Cowardly Lion in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz,” is back up for grabs at $22.8 million or for lease at $100,000 a month.
There’s no yellow brick road, but a palm-lined drive leads up to the entrance of the gated traditional, which was built in 1941.
The estate has been home to a chain of stars including Betty Grable, Melanie Griffith and Paul McCartney. Some 12,000 square feet of living space in the main residence includes a wood-paneled theater, a speakeasy-style bar and a two-lane bowling alley.
Formal gardens, a 3,000-square-foot secondary house, a tennis court and a swimming pool complete the 1.38-acre grounds.
The Beverly Crest estate’s chain of ownership includes Lahr, Grable and Don Johnson. (Berlyn Photography | Warner Bros.)
The stuff of fairy tales
Singer-songwriter-composer Rufus Wainwright has bought a 1920s home with a storybook ambiance in Hollywood Hills West for $1.45 million.
The 1920s home, set amid mature trees, has fanciful details in its brick façade, picture windows with diamond grilles and a steep stairway that leads up to the front door. A whimsical-looking bridge crosses over a pond to one of the two patios.
The design theme continues indoors in the step-down living room with rolled ceilings, exposed beams and a fireplace with a brick surround.
The Canadian-born Wainwright, 43, has released live and studio albums including the Grammy-nominated record “Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall.”
Wainwright paid $1.45 million for the whimsical home in Hollywood Hills West. (Redfin.com | Getty Images)
A home without a court
Pro player turned Tennis Channel commentator Justin Gimelstob bought a home in Brentwood for $4.4 million.
The Spanish-style house, built in 2006, is a two-story with a rustic clay tile roof and a front-facing balcony. Among the features of the roughly 4,800 square feet of interiors are distressed hardwood floors, custom tilework and stone details.
There’s a swimming pool with a waterfall but no tennis court. We’re thinking he has a membership somewhere.
Gimelstob, 39, retired from the sport in 2007 with more than a dozen doubles and mixed doubles titles.
Gimelstob bought the Spanish-style house in Brentwood for $4.4 million. (Redfin.com | Getty Images)
Her exit scene
Chinese film actress and singer Li Bingbing has sold her multi-level traditional in a gated Brentwood community for $2.75 million. She bought the house three years ago for $2.43 million.
The place makes a quite a first impression opening to a two-story rotunda foyer with a sweeping staircase.
The home of more than 5,800 square feet of living space features inlaid wood floors, a wood-paneled office/library and five bedrooms.
Bingbing, 43, appeared in “Resident Evil: Retribution” (2012) and “Transformers: Age of Extinction” (2014). She will star in the upcoming horror-adventure film “Nest” with Kellan Lutz and Kelsey Grammer.
Bingbing sold her home in a gated Brentwood community for $2.75 million. (Hilton & Hyland | Los Angeles Times)
Ocean-view penthouse
Filmmaker Allan Loeb, writer and producer for the upcoming film “Collateral Beauty,” has put his oceanfront penthouse in Venice up for sale at $3.695 million.
The 2,300-square-foot home spans two floors and features walls of glass, exotic chandeliers and wood finishes. Ocean-facing balconies and a rooftop lounge extend the space by 800 square feet.
The loft master suite opens to the rooftop patio and takes in views of the Venice Pier and coastline.
Loeb’s writing credits include “The Switch” (2010), “Just Go With It” (2011) and “Rock of Ages” (2012). He bought the unit three years ago for $2.75 million.
Loeb is asking $3.695 million for the oceanfront penthouse in the Marina Peninsula area of Venice. (Sean Garrison | Los Angeles Times)
From the archives
Ten years ago, the Lake View Terrace ranch once owned by movie mogul Cecil B. DeMille sold for $14.8 million. The 158-acre ranch, in the northern end of the San Fernando Valley, included an equestrian facility with 200 stalls, miles of riding trails, a lodge, a pool and a tennis court. After DeMille bought the land in 1916, he built cabins and a guesthouse, where he installed a pipe organ so composers could work on their film scores.
Also a decade ago, Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer sold his 10-bedroom estate near the Sunset Strip for close to its $10-million asking price. There was a five-day escrow on the nearly 18,000-square-foot mansion.
Twenty years ago, actress Bonnie Bedelia of the “Die Hard” film franchise sold her Santa Monica home for about $1 million. She moved to Washington state and planned to commute to L.A. for film work. Bedelia also co-starred with Harrison Ford in “Presumed Innocent” (1990).
What we’re reading
— Germany has bought the Pacific Palisades house once owned by Thomas Mann, averting demolition of the home where the Nobel Prize-winning novelist lived for a decade after fleeing Adolf Hitler. The 1941 modernist residence had been listed this summer as a tear-down. The sales price was $13.25 million.
— A Malibu home buyer whose $12.25-million home turned out to have only two-thirds of the size for which it was marketed has prevailed in court. The seller’s agent had a duty to disclose this relevant information about the house because both the buyer’s and seller’s agents worked for the same firm, ruled the California Supreme Court.
— The house that inspired the “The Amityville Horror” book and movies has found a buyer, reports Valerie Kellogg of Newsday. The 1927 Dutch Colonial, which had been listed at $850,000, is under contract so the sales price won’t be known until the deal closes. The current owner purchased the New York property in 2010 for $950,000. The 5,000-square-foot, five-bedroom home, which sits on the Amityville River with a boathouse and a slip, was the site of six murders in 1974.
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