Character actress, filmmaker and bona fide Tinseltown progeny Illeana Douglas —granddaughter of two-time Oscar-winning “Ninotchka,” “Hud” and “Being There” actor Melvyn Douglas — hoisted her comfortable and pleasantly un-fancy Greek Revival-style bungalow in the historic Spaulding Square neighborhood in Hollywood, Calif., up for sale at $1.799 million. The dedicated film buff and historian who hosted the series “TCM Spotlight: Trailblazing Women” that highlighted the accomplishments of women in film, both in front of and behind the cameras, purchased the 1,711-square-foot charmer in early 2006 for $1.28 million. Just peeking out over an evocative vine-draped white picket fence and approached via a trellis-shaded porch that overlooks the grassy front yard, the circa 1919 bungalow has two bedrooms and two updated vintage-style bathrooms.
Highlighting a fireplace accented with dignified grey tiles, slightly time-worn oak floors and unexpectedly ornate ceiling moldings, all original to the house, the living room adjoins a window-lined sun porch while a bank of French doors in the dining room lead to a second sun porch, this one furnished as a long and slender home office overlooking a narrow driveway that runs along the side of the house to a detached two-car garage at the rear of the mid-block parcel. A petite library faces the front yard with a full wall of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, one bathroom has an old-fashioned claw-footed tub and both bathrooms feature classic white penny tile flooring.
Updated with marble counter tops on crisp, snow-white custom cabinets and historically grounded with a restored antique Wedgewood range, the eat-in kitchen spills out through French doors to a small deck that steps down to a grassy, hedge-privatized backyard. The verdant, simply landscaped space does not currently have a swimming pool but does, according to listing details, provide enough room to add one.
listing photos: Nourmand & Associates
