Written into movie history
Pickfair was the legendary Beverly Hills home of actor Douglas Fairbanks and actress Mary Pickford.
It was built as a hunting lodge in 1919, and Fairbanks bought it for $35,000 in 1920. That same year, Fairbanks gave the building a Tudor facade, he and Pickford married and they moved into the house. In 1932, architect Wallace Neff redesigned the residence, turning it into an elegant Georgian-style home where America’s sweetheart and her swashbuckling movie-star husband lavishly entertained. Guests even took canoe rides in the large pool, which is still on the grounds.
Pickfair has seen many changes but few owners since those halcyon days. Pickford and Fairbanks were divorced in 1936, but the actress stayed on with her next husband, actor Buddy Rogers, until she died in 1979. Rogers then sold the home to L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who sold it in 1988 to businessman Meshulam Riklis and actress Pia Zadora.
Riklis kept the theme and the name of “Pickfair,” preserving some of the original house and Neff touches while building a new, larger mansion. It was completed in 1994.
If some of Riklis’ touches are reminiscent of Versailles, it’s because he borrowed some decorative ideas from the French palace as well as from the Sistine Chapel. The living room ceiling is hand-painted, and the family room ceiling is intricately carved in wood. One craftsman lived on the estate for three years while working on the house.
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About this house: The once 15-acre estate has been subdivided over the years, and now the grounds amount to 2.23 acres.
Asking price: $27 million, reduced from $39.5 million when it was first listed in January.
Size: The property has 15 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms in about 26,000 square feet. The main house has four bedrooms, and there is a three-bedroom apartment and a two-bedroom guesthouse. There are also some staff bedrooms and offices.
Features: The Georgian-style manor, on a knoll, has French doors leading to large terraces, which have sweeping city-to-ocean views. The home also has a large spa with a glass-dome ceiling, a gym, a beauty shop, a massage room, a theater with full projection, and a disco. There is a fountain on the property as well as a pool house, subterranean parking for 15 vehicles, and a three-car garage.
Among remaining details from the ‘30s is a bar where Fairbanks entertained cowboy actor Tom Mix and other stars.
Where: Beverly Hills
Listing agent: Barbara Duskin, (310) 777-6255, and Ron de Salvo, (310) 777-6233, both at Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills North.
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To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send color interior and exterior photos (copies only, please; we cannot return the pictures) and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; or e-mail homeoftheweek@latimes.com.
