Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Architecture Wednesday: Spanish Hideaway

Okay, so I am the Little Boy who cried, “This is the house for me!” But, yeah, this is the house for me, even though it’s in Los Angeles. It’s a Spanish home where Katharine Hepburn lived early in her Hollywood career, where Boris Karloff lived at the height of his career, and where and Eric Burdon of the band The Animals lived in the 1960s.

Drama queen, horror king, rock king, all in the same gorgeous home, and the foot home is for sale for a hair under $9 million.

Hepburn rented the home for five years when she made the transition from Broadway to Hollywood in 1932. Once she had established herself, she moved on and bought her own home, and this house was them sold to Boris Karloff, who lived there from 1938 to 1945, enjoying his passion for gardening and turning the grounds into a tropical paradise.

Built in 1927, the five-bedroom, six-bath home sits in an almost park-like setting, thanks to Karloff, who created the gardens still intact today; there are terraces, two outdoor fireplaces, manicured lawns, tropical blooms, roses and fruit trees, steps leading down to the swimming pool and a pool house. Inside, the whitewashed brick walls are balanced by wood or tile floors and wood ceilings with exposed timber beams, Spanish mosaic tiles, and antique chandeliers; there are a total of six fireplaces in the home where you can cuddle up with a husband or a cat or three, a little dog, a glass of wine.

The single-story home is larger than it first appears, with wings that branch out over some 5,000 square feet of living space. Large windows, and clerestory glass, along with several skylights, flood the home with natural light.

It’s the perfect home, with a sense of history and luxury, and gardens, pool, places to relax, places to entertain. And, okay, it’s too much house and too much yard, but then we’d invite guests all the time and get a gardener. I need to check my sofa cushions. I have some money, so all I need is another $8,999,000 and I’m loading up the truck to move to Beverly … Hills that is. Swimming pools and movie stars and movie star ghosts.

Dwell

15 comments:

  1. Not bad! Like all the wood.
    And the grounds are loverly!

    xoxo :-)

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  2. Oh that is just wonderful. But look at those gardens!!!!

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  3. I could live there, and so could the dogs.

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  4. Most of the homes you post are too modern or cosmopolitan for my taste – lovely and fantastically designed, but just not my taste for a space I'd live in. This one, however, is freaking gorgeous and if I can shake out the $9M from my couch cushions from under my car seats, you are going to have to fight me for it! I particularly love how it has obviously has updates made to it, the architectural and historical integrity has been maintained. Very well done.

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  5. Oh, I'd move to the pool house and I'd be the pool boy. LOL
    And it's lovely. 1927, huh? It's been kept in fantastic condition. The pedigree alone would be worth a mil.
    Love the ceilings! And that kitchen!! And I don't even cook!

    XOXO

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  6. I have a recollection that Eric Burdon could be a drama queen as well.
    A Primo Donno at any rate, if you'll pardon my French...

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  7. @TDM
    I love every inch of this place!!

    @Treaders
    And they are the gardens Boris Karloff put in!!!!

    @Dave
    Good yard--and pool--for dogs!

    @denimull
    I do like modern, but I also like rustic and history and just plain cozy.

    @Six
    Deal!
    xoxo

    @It's Just Jake
    That works for me, too!

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  8. Like this one

    Apropos of something completely different, paraphrasing Monty Python, something from the front page of the Guardian UK about one of your favourite people https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/24/gwyneth-paltrows-covid-advice-challenged-nhs-england-director - the head of the NHS rebukes Gwynny

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  9. Way more house than I need or want, but I do like it. I'm not for all the beige shades, however. 5,000 sq ft on one floor is like navigating a hotel.

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  10. I like it, I'd need a full time live in gardner, and a pool boy, and a housekeeper,

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  11. That kitchen is cold. Some of the ceilings are too low or too heavy looking. Some very claustrophobic areas created... frequently too much furniture for the space. Love that fireplace on the patio area... the outdoors portion is lovely.

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  12. Lord, you'd need a full-time staff to care for that place! Gorgeous, though.

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  13. Absolutely lovely, but I have to wonder what the heck was the current owner thinking with that television situation?

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  14. LOVE IT!! So, who shall the movers pick up first me or you and your brood. There is enough room for all of us.

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  15. Most lovey. I like these classics. I had better since I live in one!

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