Tony Duquette was not someone who could be pigeonholed. A true renaissance man of the art world, he was revered for myriad endeavors including set decoration, interior design, costume design (for which he won a Tony) and jewelry creation. Subscribing to a philosophy of “more is more,” Tony, who passed away in 1999 at the age of 85, infused all of his works with a unique fantastical vibrancy that remains unparalleled today. As such, his longtime Malibu ranch also defies definition. Nestled on a 39.4-acre lot in a secluded area of the Santa Monica Mountains, the property is a dazzling amalgamation of varying styles including Georgian, Moroccan, chinoiserie and bohemian.
Tony and his wife, Elizabeth, initially purchased the ranch, which they dubbed “Sortilegium” (Latin for “Land of the Enchantment”), in 1955. Utilized as a weekend home, Duquette, a skilled re-purposer, outfitted both the interior and exterior of the then 175-acre site with various artifacts he collected from the movie sets he worked on and along his many world travels.
As described by the Los Angeles Times, “There were 16th-Century Spanish gates out front, illuminated by street lights from Copenhagen, and stone lions from a downtown Los Angeles bank. An elevator cab from the Hollywood Hotel sat amid a tangle of exotic plants. Flags from Bali flew atop tall poles, and a boathouse – one of several pavilions on the property – was topped with a Venetian gondola.”
But in 1993 tragedy struck in the way of the Green Meadow fire, which tore through the eccentric wonderland, virtually decimating it. It was an especially heartbreaking turn of events for Duquette being that he had lost the vast majority of his belongings just five years prior in a San Francisco blaze. As was the case with that inferno, though, the ever-resilient Tony rebuilt – this time on the lot next door.
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty Following the fire, Tony stayed for a time in the guesthouse of the ranch adjoining his former paradise, which belonged to his longtime friend and business partner, Hutton Wilkinson, and which he overhauled in his typical maximalist style, essentially re-creating Sortilegium. In 2016, Hutton explained to Purple magazine, “I told him he could do anything he wanted to the interior but not to touch the exterior. That was like telling a child not to eat the candy. I now have towers and bridges and gates and pavilions and wonderful Southeast Asian decorations. And I am very happy that he disobeyed my orders. I rather feel that what he did there is similar to the Désert de Retz outside of Paris.”
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty Wilkinson put the fantastical property up for sale in 2005 and it proceeded to bounce on and off the market for the next decade, as was chronicled by our own Mark David for Variety. The homestead ultimately sold in 2017 for $3.4 million. Repped by prolific Malibu realtor Chris Cortazzo, then of Coldwell Banker, the pad was snapped up by an unlikely buyer – uber-modern architect David Hertz, who is best known for his sleek streamlined designs.
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty In 2020, David and his wife, Laura Doss-Hertz, opened their new dwelling up to cameras for the filming of the Apple TV+ docuseries “Home.” In the episode titled “Malibu,” David explains his attraction to a residence so far outside of his typical stylings, saying, “When we bought the property, people that know my architecture work say ‘This is so disconnected from, you know, this modernist aesthetic.’ But I was really drawn to it because everything seems to have a story behind it and I feel a responsibility to protect it.”
Despite their differing architectural leanings, like Duquette, Hertz is a longtime pioneer of sustainable design. And he shares another commonality with the artist. Both David’s father and grandfather were highly regarded set designers, best known for creating Malibu’s famed Paramount Ranch, which, sadly, was also lost to a fire.
Hertz had actually long been familiar with Sortilegium. At some point following the Green Meadow blaze, Tony’s land was sold off and a large plot wound up in the hands of Mercedes Benz dealership heiress Francie Rehwald, who commissioned David to build a home there. His creation is one of L.A.’s most famous residences, the famed 747 Wing House, a whimsical structure fashioned from portions of a Boeing jet.
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty David and Laura rebranded their new home “Xanabu” (a mix of the words Zanadu and Malibu) and today it remains a fantastical dreamland replete with multiple pagodas (some forged from repurposed satellite dishes), rolling hills of green, vibrant gardens and elaborate scapes featuring Hollywood movie props. Some original pieces from Sortilegium are even dotted throughout the property, including the aforementioned Hollywood Hotel elevator cab which is currently utilized as a birdcage. There is also a large swimming pool and a tennis court on the grounds.
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty At the center of the property is an “Adirondack-style lodge” built in 1980 with five bedrooms and six bathrooms spread throughout 5,500 square feet.
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty Though the exterior is fairly understated, the interior is resplendent with busy patterns, ornate fixtures and vibrant coloring, all reminiscent of Dawnridge, Duquette’s longtime Beverly Hills home.
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty Splashy living spaces include a living room with beamed ceilings, a library with built-in bookcases and a gourmet kitchen with professional appliances including a Sub-Zero fridge and a Viking range.
There are also two guest houses on the premises – the first with two bedrooms, two baths and a kitchen and the second with one bedroom, one bath and a kitchen.
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Image Credit: Coldwell Banker Realty Considering Xanabu’s wild aesthetic, it is no surprise that Hollywood has come a-calling on multiple occasions. Along with serving as a backdrop for countless magazine cover stories over the years, including Drew Barrymore’s 2006 shoot with Mario Testino for Vogue and Courteney Cox’s 2011 shoot with Terry Richardson for Harper’s Bazaar, the ranch is a frequent filming spot, most famously portraying the supposed Nepal site known as Afterlife on the Marvel series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
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Image Credit: Walt Disney Television Audiences are first introduced to the locale, described as a waystation of sorts for Inhumans, in the season two episode titled “Afterlife.” It is there that Daisy ‘Skye’ Johnson (Chloe Bennet) unexpectedly finds herself after acquiring her vibrational powers. Xanabu goes on to appear in several additional episodes during the show’s second season.
But Marvel is hardly the first production company to utilize the site.
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Image Credit: Disney-ABC Domestic Television Back in 2002, it popped up in two season one episodes of “Alias” – “The Solution” and “Rendevous” – as the Denpasar marketplace where Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) meets with Julian Sark (David Anders) and attempts to secure a vial filled with a valuable elixir.
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Image Credit: Bravo When the ranch was still on the market in 2013, Wilkinson commissioned reality tv realtors Heather Bilyeu and Josh Flagg of “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” to co-list it, which was chronicled in the season six episodes titled “Mexican Retreat.” and “Madison v. Heather (Again!).” Though the place wasn’t exactly in need of any additional accouterments, Hutton suggested, “You know, I think some fresh flowers, some throw pillows and a little bit of dusting might help” in selling it.
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Image Credit: NBCUniversal Xanabu plays Bardo Monastery, where Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil) goes on a “quest for enlightenment” and very briefly learns “to embrace a life of simplicity,” in the season three episode of “The Good Place” titled “Everything Is Bonzer,” which aired in 2018.
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Image Credit: Columbia Records That same year, Glowie shot the music video for her song “Body” at Xanabu.
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Image Credit: Top Dawg Entertainment And in 2019, the video for SiR and Zacari’s “Mood” also took place at the ranch.