Weaver Home Has Ecology in Mind

Actor DENNIS WEAVER wrote a three-minute monologue for his starring role in the CBS movie “The Return of McCloud,” airing at 9 tonight, which reflects the philosophy behind a house he is building in Ridgeway, Colo., about 40 miles from the ski resort of Telluride.

“When they asked me if I’d be interested in doing another McCloud (a TV series in which he played New Mexico deputy marshal Sam McCloud), I said I would if they came up with a theme of importance, to make people think a little bit,” he said in the office of his Malibu home.

The end result and ability to write McCloud’s speech, expressing Weaver’s own environmental concerns, pleased him so much that he not only took the part but also became one of the show’s producers.

“The story line has to do with money pollution and chemical pollution,” he said. “So environment is an aspect, but the theme is that people are willing to sacrifice their lives for profit, and greed is the genesis for almost every problem we have.”

The house he is building--on 20 acres, 3 miles from a 160-acre llama ranch that Weaver owns with a partner--was designed to be sensitive to the environment and the pocketbook as well. “I got the idea from Michael Reynolds, an architect in Taos, N.M.,” he said.

Reynolds spent the past 15 years perfecting a construction technique using such indestructible throwaways as old tires and aluminum cans. The tires are packed with dirt, then stacked like bricks, creating 3-foot-thick exterior walls. The cans are used mostly, with mortar, for interior walls.

“We won’t need heating ducts or air conditioning, because the house is really a thermal battery charged by the sun,” said Weaver. “It will take a year to charge, and then it will be 68 to 72 degrees year-round.” When completed in December, Weaver’s home will have used an estimated 3,000 tires and 40,000 cans, but it will look like any other house, because it will be covered with adobe.

“Dennis is building the house to show that you can live in a nice home without destroying the earth,” said Weaver’s spokesman, Stan Friedman. “This won’t be a little cabin in the woods.”

“It’s the biggest house I’ve ever built, and I’ve built three,” Weaver said, “and it’s the quickest. The others took 1 to 2 1/2 years to build, and this is being done in nine months.”

The main house will be 8,000 square feet in size, with four bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths and a game room. It will also have a pyramid-shaped outdoor greenhouse and about 250 square feet of indoor wall planters where the Weavers will grow vegetables and herbs.

“Much of our landscaping will also be edible,” he said.

Heirs of actress BETTE DAVIS, who died Oct. 6, have put her West Hollywood condo on the market at $950,000. Last week, her estate was estimated to be worth between $600,000 and $1 million.

The fourth-floor unit, which is not quite 2,500 square feet, has a large living room with a fireplace; a den, gourmet kitchen and master-bedroom suite. It also has a terrace with city views.

Known as Colonial House, the building where the unit is located, was constructed in 1929 and was converted to condos in the mid-’70s. Davis lived there at least 12 years, according to Lenore von Hofe, who has the listing with Mike Silverman & Associates, Beverly Hills.

Actor JAMES WOODS, who stars with Glenn Close in the just-released movie “Immediate Family,” has sold his two-story, 3,500-square-foot house in the Beverly Hills Post Office area.

The house, which he sold for just under $2 million, has what was described as a view of the Los Angeles Basin and is on a block where singer Elton John, actress Ginger Rogers and violinist Jascha Heifetz all lived. Woods and his bride, Sarah Owen, haven’t purchased another house but are believed to be leasing in the L.A. area. Raymond Bekeris with Asher Dann & Associates represented the buyer.

Singer GLEN CAMPBELL’S former Holmby Hills property has been listed at $15 million, and that doesn’t even include a main residence.

Campbell’s house, on the 2.2-acre site, was razed by current owner Joel Schur, who planned to build a 17,000-square-foot mansion there but didn’t. He purchased the St. Petersburg Cardinals, a Class-A minor league Florida baseball team, instead.

“I bought the St. Petersburg Cardinals, which are affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals, and I bought the territorial rights for Tampa-St. Pete,” he said. So he’s moving to the East Coast, where he lived before moving to the Los Angeles area. He still owns several blocks of warehouses in lower Manhattan.

“After Joel bought the Holmby property (from Glen Campbell five years ago), he demolished everything,” said Jeff Hyland of Alvarez, Hyland & Young, who has the listing, “but then he built a tennis court, a 300-foot waterfall, a stream, three ponds stocked with prize koi, a swimming pool with 24-karat gold tiles, a pool house with a gym; a putting green, a funicular, five miles of underground wiring and a 3,500-square-foot guest house.”

Schur also relocated 30 full-grown pines from a Northern California town to his home site and planted a lawn where he planned to build his mansion. Plans and permits are included in the price.