Jayne, Steve Redo Fire-Ruined Home

While STEVE ALLEN has been promoting his 30th book, his wife, JAYNE MEADOWS, has been putting some finishing touches on the redesign and construction of their San Fernando Valley house.

They bought their home, in a neighborhood off Mulholland Drive known as Royal Oaks in 1957, but their house was severely burned in an electrical fire, caused by a power surge and insufficient wiring, in October, 1985.

“There were flames 20 feet high from the roof,” Meadows said. “The whole place had to be re-landscaped and redone inside. One-third of the house came right down to the ground. It had to be rebuilt, and we had to put in all new furnishings and carpeting.”

What wasn’t destroyed or damaged was packed away while the house underwent renovations.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to put a 20-room house into storage and bring it out again?” Meadows asked. “We have one whole room of boxes we still haven’t unpacked.”

Originally a one-story California ranch house, the residence now has a second-floor retreat, where Allen writes. It is reached by a spiral staircase made of white oak.

“I also added a small breakfast room, a laundry, a picture window (looking out to the pool) and an enormous bathroom with Hollywood makeup tables,” Meadows said. “I added special closets for my Christmas ornaments and an area where I can have a two-story Christmas tree every year like (the late actor) Harold Lloyd. In fact, I bought a lot of his ornaments.”

Meadows also redid the kitchen in a two-story, country style and had a new roof installed over much of the house. “It had to be redone over one bedroom, because it had leaked through the walls,” she said.

In all, she estimated, the Allens spent more than $1 million and many back-aching hours cleaning and refurbishing the house.

“I have some advice,” Meadows said. “Don’t send flowers to a friend who has a house fire.”

What she appreciated most right after the fire was a basket someone sent of sandwiches and cookies. “That kept us going.”

Actor RICK SCHRODER’S parents, Diane and Richard Schroder, have been building a house in Beverly Hills, but apparently decided not to occupy it. They’ve put up a sign that has raised more than a few eyebrows:

It’s “For Sale by Owner.”

“It wouldn’t rate a second glance in, say, Inglewood or Mar Vista, but a ‘For Sale by Owner’ sign is a shocker in Beverly Hills real estate circles,” a neighbor said.

Another wrote: “This has to be one of the funniest scenarios in Beverly Hills. . . . A FSBO sign across the street from Jimmy Stewart’s house and cater-cornered from Lucille Ball’s.”

DOLPH LUNDGREN, who played a Russian boxer opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky IV” and is in the new film “Red Scorpion,” has purchased a house in Malibu for $1.1 million, according to public records.

The 2,890-square-foot house, built in 1978, has four bedrooms, four baths and a pool. Lundgren had been living at the St. James’ Club on Sunset Boulevard.

AARON SPELLING PRODUCTIONS has signed a 10-year lease valued at more than $10 million for new corporate headquarters in the Wilshire Courtyard, and get this:

As if she wasn’t busy enough with their nearly completed mega-mansion in Holmby Hills . . . Candy Spelling, the producer’s wife, was seen touring the Wilshire Courtyard the other day with an interior designer in tow.

The Spelling office relocation, planned in January from the Warner Hollywood lot in West Hollywood, has been described as “part of the continuing saga of Hollywood moving” to the J. H. Snyder Co. project, across the street from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In the past 18 months, Mark Goodson Productions, Daily Variety and New Visions Pictures have also leased space there.

Spelling, represented by Drew Planting of Cushman & Wakefield, will occupy 35,000 square feet of offices.

“Hi-Oh Silver . . . Away!”

JOHN HART, who played the Lone Ranger in 52 episodes on TV starting in 1952 (the shows were interspersed with versions starring Clayton Moore), will be headed south after he sells his house in Van Nuys.

The actor-turned-producer (of the long-running TV series “Quincy” as well as some documentaries and about 80 TV commercials) and his wife plan to move to Warner Springs, near San Diego.

Their two-bedroom house is listed at a mere $287,950 with Greg Piele at Century 21 Vic Harvey Realtors.

Italian financier GIANCARLO PARRETTI, chief executive officer and president of Pathe Communications, and restaurateur BRUNO VIETINA, have acquired the 6-year-old Beverly Center celebrity haunt Tramp of London.

The 18,000-square-foot private club--which has dining facilities, a disco and a screening area--caters to the likes of glamour photographer Greg Gorman, who held his 40th birthday party there a couple weeks ago, and actress Kim Basinger, who spent a recent evening there dancing.