Hot Property Newsletter: Do-overs
This week we observed several celebrities adjusting their game plans. One has popped a recently purchased place back on the market, while others are returning to square one at lowered asking prices.
A well-kept Craftsman in Koreatown listed at $1.495 million takes center stage as our Home of the Week. Designed by the father-and-son architectural duo credited with such local landmarks as Los Angeles City Hall and Grand Central Market, the two-story house is a treasure trove of original woodwork and details.
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– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Semi-circular reasoning?
Television host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi appear to be doing a 180 in Beverly Hills, listing an estate they purchased about six months ago at $17.995 million. The couple bought the home in September for $15 million.
The Hollywood Regency-style residence, designed and built in 1962 by noted architect John Elgin Woolf, had been restored by Los Angeles-based design firm Marmol Radziner. The single-story house features 5,100 square feet of living space including a circular foyer, open living and dining rooms, a den/office, a breakfast nook, five bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms.
DeGeneres, 61, has won multiple Emmys for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which premiered in 2003.
De Rossi, 46, has television credits that include the legal drama “Ally McBeal” and the sitcom “Arrested Development.”
A changeup in his pitch
Actor Charlie Sheen has trimmed the price of his Sherman Oaks estate to $7.99 million. The “Major League” star first brought it to market for $10 million early last year.
In addition to an 8,600-square-foot house built in 1992, the half-acre grounds contain two swimming pools, a pitcher’s mound and an outdoor kitchen, among other amenities.
There are two movie theaters, a gym, five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
Sheen, 53, shelled out $7.2 million for the Mediterranean mansion in 2006. His sitcom work includes “Anger Management” and “Two and a Half Men.”
Not missing a beat in Miami
Singer Gloria Estefan and her musician-producer husband, Emilio, have reduced their bayfront estate on Star Island in Miami Beach to $32 million. The property has been on and off the market since 2015, when it was priced at $40 million.
Set on a 1.34-acre corner lot with 240 feet of water-frontage, the Floridian-style main house features hardwood and marble floors, a living room with fireplace, a piano room, five bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. Between the two-story main house and a three-bedroom guesthouse, the living space totals about 8,000 square feet.
There’s also a heated swimming pool, a gazebo with a summer kitchen and a boat dock.
The Grammy Award-winning Gloria Estefan, 61, is known for the 1985 hit single “Conga,” which she co-wrote and performed as part of the Miami Sound Machine. Emilio Estefan, 66, got his start with the Miami Sound Machine and has won 19 Grammys.
A Seattle Heart-stopper
Musician-songwriter Ann Wilson has sold her longtime home in Seattle for $4.32 million. Heart’s lead singer bought the two-story house in 1980 for $460,000.
Built as the Boulevard Inn in 1912, the one-time way station was transformed into a single residence in the 1930s by pioneering Seattle architect Elizabeth Ayer as her personal residence.
Today the Cape Cod-inspired house opens to more than 7,250 square feet of updated living space. The living room features cobalt blue accents walls, ceiling beams, a fireplace and a bay window. A pine-paneled library, a beamed ballroom, a sun room, a wet bar, a wine cellar, four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a basement complete the floorplan.
Wilson, 68, co-wrote the Heart hits “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You” with her sister, fellow band member Nancy Wilson.
A winner with Oscar recipients
The Newman Residence, built for nine-time Academy Award-winning composer Alfred Newman, is for sale in Pacific Palisades at $13.5 million.
A later Oscar winner, actress Diane Keaton, spent more than two years refurbishing the Lloyd Wright-designed Midcentury Modern house, which she sold in 2010 for $10.75 million.
Keaton, 73, restored the woodwork and built-in furniture, updated the kitchen and reworked the second story to create a loft-like master bedroom suite with walls of glass. There are five bedrooms and four bathrooms within the 4,386 square feet of living space.
Newman, who died in 1970 at 69, scored more than 200 films including “How Green Was My Valley,” “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing” and “Airport” during his 40-plus-year career.
His favorite room
Two-time world welterweight champion Andre Berto packs a punch in the kitchen, preparing meals with ingredients delivered straight from a farm. Located in the center of the boxer’s 4,900-square-foot Beverly Hills home, the modern, open-concept kitchen looks fit for a five-star chef.
“I like a big, open kitchen with lots of natural light,” Berto says.
From the archives
Five years ago, Hot Property creator Ruth Ryon died at age 69. Her first installment, which appeared Nov. 25, 1984, led with late-night show host Johnny Carson buying a house in Malibu for $9.5 million. By the time she retired in 2008, Ryon had penned more than 1,300 columns.
Ten years ago, serial home restorer Diane Keaton listed a Beverly Hills Spanish Colonial Revival at $11.995 million. The “Annie Hall” Oscar winner had restored the 1927 courtyard home, designed by architect Ralph Flewelling.
Twenty years ago, Oscar-winning actress and singer Cher, whose dance tune “Believe” had been a Top 10 hit for weeks, sold her Malibu home for close to its $3.75-million asking price. The 1.2-acre property contained a 10,000-square-foot main house, a tennis court and a swimming pool.
What we’re reading
Legendary architect Frank Gehry opened the doors of his new dream house in Santa Monica for Architectural Digest. The 90-year-old designed the modern, lodge-like residence to combine multi-angled roof gables, large stretches of glass and interiors dominated by heavy wooden beams.
Another Gehry showplace unveiled recently in Town and Country Magazine is the Basalt, Colorado, house designed for former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner. A sculptural metal roof sits atop the 1,600 square feet of warm wood interiors surrounded by walls of glass. Completed last year, the result is a contemporary take on a colonial-era meeting house.
