The Lady Plumber’s palace
Corona di Collini (Crown of the Hill), a hilltop mansion in Los Feliz Oaks, can be likened to a fine older lady who has seen her share of ups and downs.
“We loved it,” said actress Jane Withers, recalling how she and her mother felt when they first saw the house in 1969, the year Withers purchased it. Her husband, Ken Errair, once a singer with the Four Freshmen, had been killed in a plane crash in 1968.
“It was a wonderful old house,” Withers remembered, “but it was desperately in need of care. So I said, ‘Old friend, we both were created the same year -- 1926 -- and we’ll have fun fixing you up.”
And that’s what Withers did. The former child star who appeared in films with Shirley Temple and was a few years into a 21-year reign in TV commercials as Josephine, the Lady Plumber, spent three years working on the place while living there with her mother and five children.
“It cost a fortune,” she said of the renovation she supervised. Artisans took more than a year just painting murals on the ceilings, and Withers had some stair glides installed so her elderly housekeeper and two old dogs wouldn’t be forced to climb so much.
Withers also put new, arched windows and two massive chandeliers in the living room, which had ornate crown moldings and a spectacular city view.
She dedicated a long, narrow room to the American Indian, setting up a library there with her collection of books and artifacts and draping an authentic Indian headdress on a fireplace in the corner.
The actress lived in the Los Feliz house until 1989. Another actress, Geena Davis, became an owner in 1992. The current sellers, a developer and his wife, completed the unfinished lower level, which now has a home theater and adjoining bar, a game room, a billiard room, a cigar lounge, a gym, a catering area and a laundry. The lush and private grounds have a pool and a waterfall.
About this house: Architect W.C. Tanner designed the house for Josiah Lee Dabbs, a banker and prominent member of the Democratic Party. A blend of Italian and Spanish architecture, the house has a Spanish Churrigueresque main entrance.
Asking price: $8.95 million
Size: The house has about 13,000 square feet of living area; it is on almost half an acre.
Features: There are four bedrooms, 7 1/2 bathrooms, two elevators, three fireplaces and city-to-ocean views. The three-story house has a private, gated drive. There is a motor court and a three-car garage. The master bedroom suite has a media center, viewing decks, a sitting room, city views and his-and-hers bathrooms with steam shower and spa tub. The house also has a library, breakfast room and grand staircase with stained-glass windows.
Where: Los Feliz
Listing agents: Merry Prestidge, (323) 871-2337, and Manvel Tabakian, (323) 376-2222, both with Coldwell Banker, Los Feliz, and Barry Sloane, Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, (310) 786-1844.
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To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos on a CD with caption and photo credit information and a 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.
