Newsletter: Hot Property: A little something extra
Everyone has favorite homes and styles — designs that feel right, capture the imagination or make us smile. We’re listing homes this week with clues to where our brains went — as always, to the “wow factor.” You may want to click through the photo galleries on the links to see the amenities we’re talking about.
— Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Made us look
How fun is this? Just knowing the seller was an Oscar-winning set designer made us want to explore this Midcentury Modern house in Sherman Oaks.
Victor Zolfo, who shared an Academy Award for his work on the 2008 film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” just sold the home for $1.425 million.
Built in 1959, the three-bedroom house sits up from the street and has a cantilevered wing that creates a carport.
Inside, the open-area floor plan features European oak floors, contemporary fixtures and walls of windows. We’re digging the free-standing fireplace that acts as a divider between the living and dining areas.
Zolfo sold the Midcentury Modern-style home in Sherman Oaks for $1.425 million. (Redfin.com | Inset: Getty Images)
Walls that talk
An estate where late television actress Patricia Barry made her home for decades is on the market in Brentwood for $10.495 million.
Barry bought the property in 1969 for $111,700 and commissioned a renovation that updated the 1937 home in the Southern Colonial style. A two-story colonnade with a brick portico was among additions made to the front facade.
Beyond the front door, some 4,330 square feet of interior space opens to a foyer with black-and-white checkerboard tile. A formal living room, a study with a fireplace, a sunroom and a wood-paneled bar room are among the common areas.
It’s not hard to envision Hollywood stars showing up for an evening of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.
Barry, who died last year at 93, got her break in the 1940s when she won a Rita Hayworth look-alike contest. She would go on to appear in scores of television shows, including “Twilight Zone” and “Days of Our Lives.”
The longtime Brentwood home of the late actress Barry listed for sale at $10.495 million. (Adrian Anz | Getty Images)
Because Lakers
Win or lose, Los Angeles has a long-standing love affair with the Lakers. So when the pro basketball team’s executive and co-owner Jim Buss added another piece of property to his personal roster, we took notice.
The son of the late businessman and Lakers majority owner Jerry Buss bought an ocean-view quarter-acre in Dana Point for $2.915 million.
Set behind gates at the Strand at Headlands, the property adjoins a half-acre lot that Jim Buss already owns. In 2013, he paid more than $13.5 million for four home sites in the community.
Buss, 57, has held the position of vice president of basketball operations since 2005.
Buss paid $2.915 million for the quarter-acre lot in a Dana Point development. (Redfin.com | Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
The royal treatment
Ever wonder how royals live? Well, here’s a look at what was the Beverly Hills home of Moulay Souleimane Cherkaoui, a member of the royal family of Morocco. The Mediterranean-villa-style house came on the market late last year for $13.888 million.
Graceful arched French doors open to gardens and lawn. The family room with a wet bar opens directly into the living room for flow during parties. The home theater has some seating facing both toward and away from the screen to create a lounging area. (This is something we haven’t seen before, but it makes great sense to get the most out of the space.) The irregular-shaped swimming pool steps down to a long lawn. (Great for soccer drills.)
The two-story house, built in 1991, sits behind fences and hedges on a nearly half-acre site for plenty of privacy. The 7,020 square feet of living space includes a total of five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
Cherkaoui is the son of Princess Lalla Malika, the sister of late King Hassan II. His cousin, Mohammed VI, is the current king of Morocco.
Moulay Souleimane Cherkaoui, the son of Princess Lalla Malika of Morocco, is asking $13.888 million for the Mediterranean-style home in Beverly Hills. (Coldwell Banker)
Georgia on our minds
Attention Akon fans: The R&B singer, producer and actor put his renovated home in Alpharetta, Ga., on the market for $6.995 million.
Located roughly 26 miles north of downtown Atlanta, the four-story mansion is set on five acres and has an ultra-modern vibe. The brilliant white-on-white interiors reminded us of a house he once owned in Woodland Hills.
The six-bedroom, nine-bathroom palatial home dazzles with vaulted ceilings, curved shapes and walls of windows. What sold us though was the band of glass tile flooring running from the front to the back of the home, creating the illusion of a stream flowing through the interior.
Did we mention there’s a bowling alley?
Akon put his Georgia mansion on the market for about $7 million. (Redfin.com | Getty Images)
From the archives
Ten years ago, this was the lede on a Hot Property column: “Sorry, Tom, but it is unusual to own a house for more than 25 years and never live in it. Yet that’s what finger-snapping singer
Twenty years ago, under the headline “Film Star Likes Scene Changes,” Hot Property reported that actor
Thirty years ago, a group connected to President Reagan got a deal on a Bel-Air house bought with his retirement in mind. Wall Management Services Inc. purchased the 7,192-square-foot house with three bedrooms and six baths on an acre for $2.5 million. Among the neighbors were actress Elizabeth Taylor and singer Mac Davis. On a side note, Hot Property recently had coffee in the kitchen of Taylor’s former home.
What we’re reading
— Home prices moved up in November, according to the latest data released from S&P Dow Jones Indices and CoreLogic. Low interest rates, falling unemployment and gains in disposable personal income have all contributed to the housing recovery.
— Move over, man cave. Tiny houses with mood lighting, flower boxes and bistro tables are popping up in backyards as women steal a page from the guys, reports the Wall Street Journal.
— ICYMI: Chef Curtis Stone’s favorite room? If you think the restaurateur and onetime “Celebrity Apprentice” picked the kitchen, you’d be wrong. He says dining room. “It’s not the most grand or exciting room design-wise, but it’s the one I like being in the most.”
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