From John Gilbert to Elton John, the Stars Called It Home : Beverly Hills Estate Owned by Celebrities
“Only a few stars ever live in the same house for years and years,” Beverly Hills real estate broker Jeff Hyland declares.
“Instead, most show business personalities jump from property to property because of frequent marriages and career swings up and down. As a result, some Beverly Hills estates have intricate ‘genealogies’ just like Europe’s royal families, with one star following another at the same address.”
Probably no other Beverly Hills residence saw more stars come and go than a mansion, now demolished, at 1400 Tower Grove Road, a narrow, winding street in the still-rural eucalyptus-and-chaparral-covered hills behind the Beverly Hills Hotel.
In the 60 years prior to its demolition, this house had no less than five successive celebrity owners, each of whom adapted the house to his or her needs and tastes. Some just redecorated the house for a more up-to-date look; others added rooms or moved existing walls to change the floor plan.
The intriguing tale of this Tower Grove Road property begins in the mid-1920’s, when actor John Gilbert built a two-story Spanish-style home on this hillside, complete with tennis court and swimming pool.
Major League Earnings
Gilbert, the dark-eyed, dark-haired romantic lead, reportedly earned $10,000 a week at the height of his career when he starred in MGM’s “La Boheme” with Lillian Gish in 1926, and in “Flesh and the Devil” with Greta Garbo the following year.
For a silent-screen idol, Gilbert’s original decorating taste was surprisingly modest, especially when compared with the showplace mansions of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd in nearby Benedict Canyon.
An entrance hall and a large party room occupied the first floor; living room, dining room, kitchen and master bedroom were upstairs and provided a spectacular view of the city below.
Department store sets of carved walnut reproduction 17th-Century Spanish furniture filled the rooms, reflecting the decorating tastes of many middle-class homes in Los Angeles during the time.
‘Quite a Production’
But the Gilbert house was to change quickly and lavishly. “When Mr. Gilbert started seeing Greta Garbo in 1926, I installed black marble walls and a sunken black marble tub with gold fixtures in the master bedroom,” recalls Harold Grieve, a Hollywood art and set decorator, who became an interior decorator shortly after completing work on the original “Ben Hur” movie in 1926.
“This bathroom was quite a production, but Garbo complained that the marble glistened too much. So workmen fluted the walls to remove the shine.” The Garbo bathroom reportedly cost $15,000.
“Apparently, John Gilbert believed all his publicity about being ‘screenland’s perfect lover,’ ” Grieve continues. “Gilbert collected girls the way some people collect coins. And every time he had a new girlfriend or got married, his business manager would call me, and I’d go up to the house and redo the bedroom and bath, yet always leave the Spanish-style living and dining rooms alone.
Hopkins Next Owner
“For the stage and film actress Ina Claire, for instance, I installed a pink marble bathroom and redecorated the bedroom in blue and white with Early American-style furniture. Although John Gilbert never showed any interest in the continual redecoration, it seemed that I practically lived off him and that house for a few years.”
Following Gilbert’s death in 1936, stage and movie actress Miriam Hopkins bought the property. Since Grieve recently had refurnished her studio dressing room, she asked him to redecorate the house.
“First off, I removed the wrought iron and other Spanish clutter in the living and dining rooms,” recalls Grieve. “Then I redid the entire house in the Art Moderne style. Very simple and very contemporary.
“In the living room, for example, I changed the baronial-like fireplace to a clean rectangular opening, and I painted the walls a soft blue-gray. A sofa sat on either side of the fireplace, and the rest of the furniture was a mixture of Art Moderne and antiques. And on the walls throughout the house, I hung some of Miss Hopkins’s beautiful paintings--Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, things like that.”
Transformed the House
The next resident at 1400 Tower Grove Road was David O. Selznick, the producer whose credits include “Gone With The Wind.” He rented the house from Miss Hopkins in 1945, following a separation from his first wife, Irene. Selznick purchased the property just prior to his 1949 marriage to actress Jennifer Jones. In the next few years, he completely transformed the house.
“Out went the Moderne furniture,” recalls Tony Duquette, who was the interior decorator for the Selznicks. “I redid the 35-foot-long living room with large bronze velvet sofas on either side of the fireplace, a yellow Chinese rug and a Japanese screen over the fireplace. At the far end of the room, I installed a projection room behind a wall of bookshelves so that the Selznicks could show movies in the living room.
“But my goal was not just to upholster a lot of things. It was to enchant. And with that in mind, I glassed in the long and narrow outdoor porch, which ran alongside the living room.
“On the long wall opposite the windows, I built a banquette, and above that I installed mirrors so that the porch seemed to float in the trees outside the windows. No wonder the Selznicks often turned this porch into a dining room for large parties.”
Substantial Structure Changes
Unlike the previous two owners, Selznick made substantial structural changes.
“Dad added a guest room on the first floor, and he dug out the rest of that level to create a bedroom and a boudoir for my stepmother (Jennifer Jones) and another master suite for my (half) sister, Mary Jennifer, after she was born,” explains Danny Selznick, who is a film and television producer in Los Angeles and David O. Selznick’s son by his first marriage.
“People who came to the house always asked to see Jennifer’s dressing room, which was paneled in 19th-Century boiserie, and the stepped waterfall outside her bedroom window which she could turn on and off with a switch.”
After David O. Selznick’s death in 1965, Jennifer Jones continued to live at Tower Grove Road with her daughter Mary Jennifer until 1969. That year, she sold the property to Ted Ashley, the chairman of the board of Warner Bros., for a reported $375,000.
Porch for Entertaining
The Ashleys made a few modifications, such as adding a fountain to the front yard and a gazebo in the garden. “My wife and I took the house with some of Jennifer’s furnishings that pleased us,” Ashley says. “Our redecoration was quite routine, just new fabrics and paints, plus finding the right place for treasured pieces of our own.”
Like the Selznicks, the Ashleys used the long glassed-in porch for large dinner parties. They also placed their sofas on either side of the fireplace and another beneath the wall of bookcases. “When your living room doubles as a screening room,” notes Peter Shore, the Ashley’s interior decorator, “that pretty much dictates how you arrange the furniture; it has to face the screen.”
In 1977, British singer Elton John purchased the estate and became the fifth consecutive celebrity owner. He paid a reported $1 million for the house and much of the Ashleys’ furniture.
John’s changes to the upstairs were modest. To the living room, for example, he added a grand piano, several fine Art Deco lamps and a portrait of Marilyn Monroe. He kept the Ashleys’ sofas, rugs, and bookcases in the same places.
More Flamboyant Taste
Downstairs, John’s redecoration was more flamboyant. One former guest room was filled with Art Moderne furniture, all his gold and platinum records and thousands of cassette tapes.
In the master bedroom, one wall was mirrored and the others were covered with Ultrasuede. He ordered custom-made furniture, which was low and simple, to provide a neutral background for his Art Deco statues and lamps. The bathroom ceiling was a single sunburst made from mirrored and beveled glass.
In 1981, John sold the property to businessman Mark Slotkin, thereby ending the unbroken chain of celebrity owners. Originally, Slotkin planned a major remodeling, but structural problems, such as rotten beams, left him little choice but demolition. On the site, Slotkin is now building a 20,000-square-foot residence inspired by a landmark Beaux Arts-style mansion at Madison Avenue and 37th Street in New York City.
