Cecil B DeMille’s Estate in Los Feliz’s Gated Laughlin Park Just Hit the Market

If you’ve ever wondered what old Hollywood glamour feels like take a walk through Cecil B. DeMille’s estate located in Los Feliz’s gated Laughlin Park.

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6 bd / 10 ba

$24,950,000

Los Feliz

DeMille was a famed Hollywood director who is remembered most for his epic and extravagant films; The King of Kings, Samson and Deliah, and The Ten Commandments.

He wrote in his autobiography “Since I came to California in 1913, I have never lived anywhere but Hollywood.” When the development of Laughlin Park began he purchased one of the first homes built there. (Charlie Chaplin purchased the other.)

DeMille lived in his estate for over four decades. It’s sited on 2.1 acres and consists of a Beaux Arts style mansion, a pool house, and a studio.

The current owners, an architecture loving couple with a keen interest in restoration projects, enlisted the help of architecture firm Tichenor & Thorp to restore and add to the DeMille estate.

They spent six years bringing this six-bedroom, ten-bath house back to its former glory. Ceilings were raised where possible and servant’s quarters were replaced with a bigger kitchen and library.

Original details like Doric columns in the living room were retained along with molded ceilings and an old school prohibition era style wine cellar.

The once upon a time breezeway extending from an atrium that connected the estate to Charlie Chaplin’s former residence was removed but the atrium remains.

And the sprawling, idyllic, grounds are straight out of your most beautiful dreams – pool with arched fountains, incredible gardens, paths and sitting areas, and a dead on view of the Griffith Observatory included.

The one and only historic Cecil B. DeMille estate is exactly what you expect old Hollywood architecture to feel like – grand.

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schedule a personal tour by email or call 323-829-4440

Listing courtesy of Brett Lawyer – Hilton Hyland

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Coming Soon: A Kinfolk Inspired Spanish Home in the Franklin Hills, Los Feliz

Most people would run in the opposite direction with Usain Bolt like speed. It was dark, boarded up, and occupied by squatters. Instead, she spotted potential within nano-seconds of entering this Spanish home located in the Franklin Hills of Los Feliz.

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3 bd / 3 ba

Call For Price

Los Feliz

Gordana doesn’t claim to be an interior designer. Yet she’s often asked by friends to help pull their spaces together. This is because whether she’s working on a mid-century modern or a craftsman style home she has an innate understanding of what a space needs and knows every little detail matters.

Her current residence has a Kinfolk inspired feel. It’s a space where simplicity and modern meet. And the art of slow living can truly be enjoyed.

High levels of natural light filter through original windows. And a chic and airy feeling is accomplished with the use of smooth, lightly colored, plastered walls throughout. These blend seamlessly with Danish soap finished wood floors.

Even though I’ve staked claim to one of the bedrooms my favorite room in this home is the kitchen.

There’s an-easiness here; a natural pull to gather around the table illuminated by the Golden Bell pendants designed by Aino and Alvar Aalto.

Everything is perfectly positioned. Seasoning rests on the limestone counters and Heath ceramic tableware lines the open shelving. Whether you’re whipping together an impromptu dinner consisting of grilled string beans along side pan-seared lamb chops, the Viking fridge, stove, and all your cooking wares are right where you need them. And the wine fridge is always stocked with something dry and French from Lou’s Wine Shop.

True to her need to live in a space that brings the outdoors in, the kitchen leads out to a tiled patio and also connects, via the formal dining room, to a yard with a pool.

And if you arrive just as the sun is going down you’ll catch the bright pink hues of those LA sunsets.

At a base level a home provides shelter. At Gordana’s level a home remains true to “cultivating community, simplifying our lives and reclaiming time for what matters most.”

This home is not officially on the market yet but you can see it before anyone else does.

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schedule a personal tour by email or call 323-829-4440

Listing courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty

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Xorin Balbes Offers Opulence Behind the Gates of Laughlin Park in Los Feliz

Xorin Balbes is no stranger to making luxury homes great again. This time he pours his talent into a 5-bedroom Spanish style estate behind the gates of Laughlin Park in Los Feliz. The result is nothing short of opulent.

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5 bd / 11 ba

$10,750,000

Los Feliz

Working on landmark structures like the Sowden House, this self-professed lover of historic properties knows how to blend the best of the old and new. He nails every inch of this home located between Los Feliz Blvd and Franklin Avenue.

Right after you pass the courtyard outfitted with a fire pit and strategically placed lighting you enter the home to land in a grand living room. In this room the home’s original wood beam ceiling was raised to soaring heights to set a dramatic tone.

And the drama doesn’t stop there.

One wing includes a massive chef’s kitchen, a grand formal dining room, a spacious family room, and a more intimate dining room.

On the other side there’s an office and a luxurious master suite.

Upstairs you can see the Griffith Observatory from nearly every room including the second sumptuous master suite and the two luxe guest suites.

On the lower level, which has so much space it feels like a home in and of itself, additional amenities include a plush theater, gym and sauna, plus the fifth bedroom suite.

A home like this wouldn’t be right without a pool and a pool house that’s finished in the same luxurious materials as the main residence. The grounds are filled with outdoor dining, sunning and lounging areas, and of course romantic and mature gardens.

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schedule a personal tour by email or call 323-829-4440

Listing courtesy of Billy Rose – The Agency

Inside Lloyd Wright’s Alluring Sowden House in Los Feliz

If the walls of Lloyd Wright’s Sowden House could talk they’d thank Xorin Balbes for saving them and possibly solve a famous murder mystery.

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4 bd / 5 ba

$4,799,000

Los Feliz

The home was built for artist John Sowden and his wife on a 14,000 square foot lot on Franklin Avenue. The Sowdens were “artsy Hollywood folks who liked to party, and Lloyd Wright, who had spent a year or so designing sets for Paramount Studios, indulged their desire for the theatrical.”

Wright designed this iconic Mayan style masterpiece using the same textile block technique his father, Frank Lloyd Wright, used for the Hollyhock House built nearby in Barnsdall Park.

While the home is hailed as Wright’s most significant work and has even earned Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument status it is rumored to have some disturbing skeletons in the closet.

In 1945, Dr. George Hodel purchased this architectural treasure and lived in the home with his family for many years. Like the Sowdens, he enjoyed the glamorous life and threw over the top parties fueled by sex and drugs.

After his death, Hodel’s son, a retired LAPD detective, implicated his father in the famous unsolved murder mystery of Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia. His son believed his father was a sadistic murderer and tortured and mutilated this dark haired beauty in the basement.

Scary, right?

But not for some.

An architecturally significant home, in need of a make over, with a sordid mysterious past was just what high end house flipper Xorin Balbes was looking for. He purchased the home in 2001 for $1,200,000 and spent close to $1.6 million restoring and remodeling the space to create a modern day sanctuary.

In restoring the Sowden house, Balbes honored Lloyd Wright’s intention to merge architecture, space and landscape. The stonework was restored. The bedroom count was reduced to 4 and bathrooms were updated. Balbes also combined rooms to accommodate a large eat-in kitchen and added a pool and spa to the central courtyard.

After spending a decade living in this Wright designed residence Balbes put his home on the market in 2011. After several months and a price reduction he sold it for $3,850,000. Its been on and off the market since 2013 and is longing for a new owner.

SEE THIS HOME

schedule a personal tour by email or call 323-829-4440

Listing courtesy of Troy Gregory – Douglas Elliman

The Schaarman House by Richard Neutra Asks $8M and Is Worth It

The Schaarman House by Richard Neutra just hit the market in the Hollywood Hills. And you can imagine the expletives of excitement that followed.

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4 bd / 4 ba

$8,000,000

Hollywood Hills

This breathtaking mid-century modern home is located in the Hollywood Hills on a quiet cul-de-sac above Mulholland. It was built on a flat ridge top that measures almost an acre.

Its gated and tucked away from the street setting provides all the privacy your “I want to run around in my undies all day and then go skinny dipping in the pool without anyone noticing” heart desires.

The 3,378 square feet of interior space is filled with classic Neutra details. Everything from seamless walls of glass, wood floors and ceilings, a stacked stone fireplace, hidden shades, and numerous custom built-ins are present throughout the house.

The expansive flat grounds features an entry garden reflecting pool, a large swimming pool (cause you really like the idea of skinny dipping) and a separate one bedroom guest house hidden away on the opposite side of the property.

Oh, and did I mention the sweeping views of the city lights and the distant San Gabriel Mountains?

To own a home designed by one of the most influential modernist architects of the twentieth century is worth every bit of the asking price.

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schedule a personal tour by email or call 323-829-4440

Listing courtesy Aaron Kirman – John Aaroe Group

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Craig Ellwood’s Smith House in Brentwood Seeks A New Owner

Craig Ellwood’s iconic Smith House is looking for a new owner – preferably someone who won’t tear it down.

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2 bd / 2 ba

$1,699,000

Brentwood

Designed in 1955 and completed in 1958 this classic example of modernist architecture was built on a hillside lot in Crestwood Hills.

It stands today in near original condition and represents Ellwood’s belief that “Society judges a building by its visual expression. Thus the substance of architecture is form and this alone has survival value.”

Today, as you walk through this steel framed dwelling it’s clear the designer knew exactly what he was doing.

When describing the home, Ellwood explains the house as, “A ‘T’ shaped plan was chosen in order to provide view benefits in consideration of the area. The vertical of the ‘T’ containing the living and dining area had a dual purpose in that it provided the most dramatic vantage point for viewing the coastal city lights and ocean to the south as well as establishing the framework for the future master bedroom suite directly below.”

During the day, the open floor plan with walls of glass provides the continuous view of the Santa Monica Bay and Palos Verdes. And at night, the house appears to effortlessly float over the canyon.

Fingers crossed the next owner appreciates this Craig Ellwood classic and restores this beautiful example of modern architecture.

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schedule a personal tour by email or call 323-829-4440

Listing courtesy of Mary Young – Teles Properties

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Bohemian Mid Century Modern Home in the Echo Park Hills

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