Owlwood Estate

Owlwood Estate is a historic mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California. It was built in 1936 and designed by architect Robert D. Farquhar. Previous owners include actors Tony Curtis and Cher.

Owlwood Estate
General information
Location	141 South Carolwood, Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California
Coordinates	34.0813936°N 118.4255765°W / 34.0813936; -118.4255765
Completed	1937
Client	Florence Letts Quinn
Design and construction
Architect	Robert D. Farquhar

Description

The 12,600-square-foot (1,170 m²) Tuscan-style mansion was designed by architect Robert D. Farquhar (1872–1967) in 1937,[1][2][3] and was the largest house in Los Angeles when it was built.[1] It has two stories, six bedrooms and two staff bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and five half-bathrooms, a tennis court, a pool house, a swimming pool, a theatre, and a full-size elevator.[1][4]

It is located at 141 South Carolwood Drive, Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California.[5]

History

Construction and first owners

The first owners were businessman Charles H. Quinn (1876–1975) and his wife, Florence Letts Quinn (1868–1944), the widow of Arthur Letts (1862–1923). Arthur Letts was the original developer and visionary of Holmby Hills. He cherry-picked 141 South Carolwood Drive from all the acreage in the development to build his family's estate, but he died before building commenced and his widow inherited the property, a 3.7-acre lot at the end of a cul-de-sac bordering the Los Angeles Country Club.[1] 141 South Carolwood Drive was the only property excluded from the original Holmby Hills lot offering.[5][6] Florence Letts selected the master architect Robert D. Farquhar to design and build the mansion and was responsible for the European influences seen in the selections and finishes.

Subsequent owners

The second owner, Texas entrepreneur Joseph Drown, founder of the Hotel Bel Air, only lived at 141 South Carolwood for two years and made no major changes to the estate.[1] The third owner was Joe Schenck (1878–1961), the first president of United Artists and chairman of 20th Century Fox.[1] During his ownership, Marilyn Monroe, a close friend, was a regular visitor. He sold the estate in 1956 to William Keck of Superior Oil.[1]

In the 1960s, Tony Curtis (1925–2010) purchased the estate from Mr. Keck. In 1967, Sonny Bono (1935–1998) and Cher attended a birthday party at the estate; Cher fell in love with the estate but Curtis refused to sell his beloved Carolwood. But when he began filming in London a few years later, he called Cher. She and Sonny purchased the estate and she began an extensive design project. When it was completed, Architectural Digest featured 141 South Carolwood Drive in the May/June 1974.[7]

In 1976, Cher sold the estate to Chase and Ralph Mishkin, who renamed it "Owlwood", in honor of the owls that lived in the towering trees on the property. After only two years, they sold Owlwood to the eighth owner, Ghazi Alta, an investor from Monaco.[1] Alta then acquired the neighboring 4.6-acre estate at 10060 Sunset Boulevard, which had been owned by Bill Osco, the producer of Flash Gordon, and prior to that the Olympic swimmer and actress Esther Williams. Alta sold 141 South Carolwood Drive and 10060 Sunset Boulevard to Dawn and Roland Arnall in 2002.[1] They added an adjacent estate at 10010 Sunset Boulevard, and the street, South Carolwood Drive, to the original estate.[1]

In 2016, Owlwood, known as "The Crown Jewel of Holmby Hills," was quietly shown to vetted buyers as a private off-market listing at a sales price of $150 million. Owlwood was never listed for sale in the MLS, publicized or advertised.[2][3][4]

Ownership by investment firms

In September 2016, the Owlwood estate sold for US$90 million to Sturmer Pippin Investments, LLC.[1] Bob Shapiro, head of Sturmer Pippin Investments and Woodbridge Luxury Homes, said he intended to honor the property's legendary past.[8] In 2016, the Owlwood purchase set the record as the third highest residential sale in Los Angeles history and represented the 2016 highest off-market private sale in Los Angeles.[9]

In July 2017, the Owlwood Estate returned to the Los Angeles real estate market, listed for sale at $180 million.[10]

In December 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against the Woodbridge Group of companies, which had bought Owlwood, and Bob Shapiro, alleging that Woodbridge and its associated companies operated as a Ponzi scheme.[11]

See also

• Gross, Michael (2011). Unreal Estate: Money, Ambition, and the Lust for Land in Los Angeles.

References

1. Talbot, Victoria (July 21, 2017). "Holmby Hills' 'Owlwood' Estate Listed for $180 Million by Mercer Vine" (PDF). The Beverly Hills Courier. p. 10. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
2. Brenoff, Ann (August 13, 2012). "Owlwood Estate in Holmby Hills, Calif. on the Market for $150 Million". The Huffington Post.
3. Exley, Jennifer (July 26, 2012). "Infamous Owlwood Estate Listed for $150 Million". The Hollywood Reporter.
4. Beale, Lauren (August 10, 2012). "Big listings land in Los Angeles and Orange counties". The Los Angeles Times.
5. Wanamaker, Marc (2010). Westwood. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-6910-9.
6. FindAGrave: Florence Martha (Letts) Quinn
7. "Cher's Homes". architecturaldigest.com.
8. Sharf, Samantha (September 16, 2016). "L.A.'s Storied Owlwood Estate Sells to Developer for $90 Million". Forbes.
9. Leitereg, Neal J. (October 14, 2016). "Owlwood's $90-million sale continues spate of high-end transactions in L.A." The Los Angeles Times.
10. Spacek, Rachel (July 20, 2017). "Storied Owlwood estate returns to market with a bang: $180 million". The Los Angeles Times.
11. Koren, James Rufus (December 22, 2017). "SEC says L.A. developer who bought celebrity real estate ran $1 billion Ponzi scheme". The Los Angeles Times.