Spinning a Web in the Hills
“Spider-Man” star Tobey Maguire has purchased a Hollywood Hills home for $3.7 million. The actor, 26, is a first-time home buyer.
The gated one-story contemporary has three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 5,000 square feet. Built in 1990, the property also has a separate gym, two fireplaces, city views, an infinity pool and a spa.
Maguire, who stars in the movie as the Marvel comic book character Peter Parker/Spider-Man, made $4 million for the first film and was guaranteed a combined $23 million for two sequels, sources said. “Spider-Man” was the first film to eclipse $100 million at the box office during its first three days of opening last weekend.
The actor previously appeared in the movie “Wonder Boys” (2000), adapted from Michael Chabon’s novel, and he starred as Homer Wells in the 1999 film adaptation of John Irving’s novel “The Cider House Rules.”
He also co-starred in “Pleasantville” (1998) and played the son of Kevin Kline and Joan Allen in “The Ice Storm” (1997).
Brett Lawyer of Prudential-John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, represented Maguire in his purchase, sources said.
Singer Patti LaBelle has sold her West L.A. condo to Allan Davis, who operates several L.A. nightclubs with his brother, Art. Among the clubs are the Gate, the Lounge and A.D.
The condo, which sold for about $1.2 million, is in a Wilshire Corridor building with a pool, gym and a wine room with a 36-bottle capacity locker for each unit.
The soul diva’s former unit has two bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms in about 2,600 square feet. The master suite has a sitting area, steam room and spa tub. The condo also has city and mountain views, a fireplace and electronically controlled drapes.
LaBelle, 57, owned the unit since February 1998. She spent months remodeling it, then put it on the market when she found that she was spending most of her time on the East Coast.
The two-time Grammy winner is known for her R&B; tunes, bluesy ballads, spiritual songs and such pop hits as “Lady Marmalade.”
She also wrote a best-selling autobiography, a collection of inspirational sayings and a cookbook. She’s working on a new cookbook, which will include recipes for diabetics and other people with medical problems. LaBelle, a diabetic, is known for her work with health advocacy groups.
Sue Ann Simon and Heather Saginor at Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills North, had the listing; Nancy Sill of Prudential John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer.
Bruce Jenner, 1976 Olympic decathlon champion, and his wife, Kris, have listed their home in the guard-gated community of Hidden Hills at just under $3.7 million.
The couple, who have 10 children, have owned the home for six years but are planning to move to a house on the golf course at Lake Sherwood.
The country English-style home that the Jenners are selling has six bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, four fireplaces, a two-story great room, a library, a formal dining room and a breakfast room in 9,000 square feet.
The house is on more than an acre of pastoral grounds with a pool/spa, sports court and golf-practice facility with sand traps and a putting green.
The former Olympian, now in his early 50s, loves golfing when not working. The motivational speaker, sports commentator, entrepreneur, actor, producer and author is also vice chairman of the Longevity Network, which markets health and nutritional products.
His wife is a TV host and special correspondent for ABC. The couple produce their own infomercials.
Lisa Chase, associate manager of Coldwell Banker Previews in Studio City, has the listing.
Ed Kowalczyk, frontman of the rock band Live, has sold his Hollywood Hills home to a record company executive for close to $2 million.
Kowalczyk and his wife, Erin, moved to their new home on five acres in Ojai.
The home he sold has six bedrooms in 5,300 square feet. Designed for viewing the moon, the stars and the city below, the house is behind gates on a half-acre promontory with a pool, guest house and outdoor cooking pavilion.
The multilevel house was built in 1994 but looks more like it was built in the ‘20s. Its construction was inspired by Madonna’s former home near the Hollywood sign.
Kowalczyk’s band, formed in the ‘80s when its members were teenagers, released its fifth album last fall. Many radio and TV stations adopted the song “Overcome,” from that album, as an anthem after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Jory Burton of DBL Estates, Beverly Hills, had the listing, and Mark Ettlinger of DBL, Sunset Strip, represented the buyers, sources said.
Wally Kurth, who plays Ned Ashton on the daytime ABC-TV series “General Hospital,” has purchased a home in Manhattan Beach for more than $1 million.
Built in 1990, the Nantucket-style house has four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in about 3,000 square feet. The home, which also has a patio and a spa, is a short walk to the beach.
When not working on “General Hospital,” Kurth frequently plays in Kurth & Taylor, a band he fronts with Christian Taylor. Kurth formerly appeared on “Days of Our Lives,” where he played Justin Kiriakis.
The Parke Group--Patty and Reyn Parke and Steve Zukmann--of Shorewood Realtors, Manhattan Beach, had the listing. Wendi Abrams of the same office represented the buyer.
Chinese painter Ting Shao Kuang has put his Beverly Hills home on the market at $18.8 million.
The artist decided to sell the 37,000-plus-square-foot house, on 2.25 acres, because he has not been using the property as much as he thought he would when he bought it in 1995.
A builder took six years to complete the 12-bedroom house in 1990. The home was owned by a Russian banker and later a Rolls-Royce dealer from Moscow.
Ting recently refurbished the mansion, designed to resemble a French chateau. The 5,000-square-foot master suite has a fireplace in the woman’s bathroom; a Japanese soaking tub and steam room in the man’s bathroom; a library/office; and a barbershop/beauty salon.
The home also has a billiard room, tennis court, ballroom/theater, wine cellar and two regulation-size bowling lanes. The etched glass floor in the dining room overlooks the indoor pool and spa.
Ting, now in his early 60s, was too poor as a child to buy oil paints, and so he mixed cooking oil with pigments to create portraits of his neighbors. He moved to the United States in 1980 after studying at the Central Academy of Arts and Design in Beijing and became the leader of the Yunnan School of Art, which combines early 20th century European line art, watercolor and oil with motifs from Balinese, Thai and Chinese folk and tribal themes.
His works now sell for as much as $500,000 each, and he has painted several theme series for U.N. postage stamps. He also painted a mural for the Great Hall of the People in Beijing that is regarded as one of the wonders of modern art.
Raymond Bekeris of John Bruce Nelson & Associates has the listing.
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