The Hollywood Reporter recently announced that writers/producers Jack Amiel and Michael Begler will be taking over as showrunners for the sophomore season of HBO’s critically-acclaimed “Perry Mason” reboot, which debuted last summer. Set in 1930s Los Angeles, the inaugural season served as the eponymous lawyer’s origin story, with the final episode ending where Erle Stanley Gardner’s famed series of books began, as prospective client Eva Griffin (Kristin Slaysman) knocks on the doors of Mason & Associates, just as she did in the prolific author’s premiere novel, 1933’s “The Case of the Velvet Claws.”
Whatever may transpire in the reboot’s second season, here’s hoping the new showrunners are as deft as their predecessors at bringing a Depression-era City of Angels to life onscreen. One spot that likely won’t be making an encore appearance? The stately manse where Perry’s (Matthew Rhys) mentor, Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan (John Lithgow), lived, being that the beleaguered barrister – spoiler! – met his untimely and unexpected demise in episode four.
To portray the once-prominent attorney’s lofty home, “Perry Mason” producers tapped a Tudor Revival-style estate located at 330 S. Irving Blvd. in L.A.’s prominent Hancock Park/Winsdor square neighborhood. (Disclaimer: Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.) The setting was an obvious choice being that the area screams “old money” perhaps more than any other place in the city.
With a handsome half-timber and brick exterior, as well as a spacious five bedrooms and four baths spread across 4,120 square feet, the manse is nothing if not grand, and perfectly suited to represent the glory of bygone Los Angeles. In fact, the residence was originally commissioned in 1923 as the private home of prominent L.A. builder Luther Townes Mayo, who pegged his frequent collaborator, architect Edward B. Rust, to design it. The duo was also behind the city’s first cooperative building, the oft-filmed Los Altos Apartments. In a foreshadowing twist, Edward is often referred to as “E.B.” Rust, much like the television character who would one day call the Tudor property he designed home!
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Image Credit: Loveland Carr Group In real life, the estate is known as “Stratford on Irving,” so named for “its English design and its location on Irving Boulevard,” according to a Realtor.com write-up.
The pad most recently hit the market last August for $5.18 million, marking the first time it had been offered for sale in almost 30 years! It ultimately sold for $4.325 million this past April. Anne Loveland, Janet Loveland and Sue Carr of the Loveland Carr Group, part of the Coldwell Banker Realty team, held the listing.
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Image Credit: Zillow Beyond the manse’s attractive façade sits an absolute wonderland of fine craftsmanship. The MLS imagery certainly brings to mind the phrase ‘They sure don’t make ‘em like they used to!’
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Image Credit: Zillow The entry foyer is a dazzling array of pecan paneled walls, an intricately hand-carved staircase and a beamed plaster cast ceiling. The stunning space truly has to be seen to be believed.
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Image Credit: Zillow Despite being almost 100 years old, a slew of original detailing remains at the property, including parquet oak flooring, decorative leaded glass windows and crown moldings galore.
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Image Credit: Zillow The ground floor of the architectural masterpiece is comprised of formal living and dining rooms, a butler’s pantry, a powder room, a family room with a built-in desk, a “secret” rear staircase and a “gourmet galley kitchen,” the latter of which has been updated while still retaining a historic feel. The home’s bathrooms, owners’ suite, HVAC system and electrical and plumbing work have also all been modernized.
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Image Credit: Zillow The 0.39-acre lot that surrounds the estate is tranquil and spacious with two 95-year old Eugenia trees standing at the center of the backyard. A detached two-car garage, which was added to the grounds in 1940 by the then-owner, VP and Director of Signal Oil and Gas Co. Harry March, can also be found at the rear of the property. That structure was then expanded in 1996 to include a two-story, 1,674-square-foot guest house complete with two bedrooms and its own full kitchen.
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake “Perry Mason” audiences first catch a glimpse of the Tudor in the series’ third episode, titled “Chapter 3,” when E.B.’s faithful secretary/right-hand woman Della Street (Juliet Rylance) picks him up for work.
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Image Credit: Zillow On the show, E.B. is at the end of his career and is floundering both financially and emotionally. Production designer John P. Goldsmith and supervising art director Chris Farmer dressed his home to reflect that. Goldsmith explained to Architectural Digest, “Since the character came from San Francisco with his wife, I wanted something Tudor as it was familiar, and he would have gone that route. He is down on his luck, running on fumes, and the house had to show that. Downstairs, the rooms are all dressed, but upstairs, it is empty, as if he had to sell off his furniture.”
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Image Credit: Zillow Both the interior and exterior of the estate were utilized on the series. Per Introspective, “Goldsmith altered the very modern bedroom of the current residents by adding 1932-appropriate pea green silk to make the window seats look like vanities, the type of decor that might have been selected by Jonathan’s wife before she left him —a deep backstory detail indeed. Another touch: a Spanish-style carved dark-wood chair with a tasseled seat, sourced from the Warner Brothers props department, one of several studio troves that provided many of the furnishings for the series.”
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Image Credit: Zillow Other portions of the interior featured onscreen include the entryway and breakfast nook. For all the grandeur of the property, though, producers chose to showcase very little, perhaps to reinforce E.B.’s pronounced destitution, which winds up driving him to his final, desperate act.