Production teams are notorious for employing various methods to “cheat” locations when creating their fictional onscreen worlds. The most common trickery involves meshing together several different places to portray a single locale. Such was the case with the mansion where screen legend Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) lived and terrorized her adopted daughter Christina (played by both Mara Hobel and Diana Scarwid) in the 1981 camp classic “Mommie Dearest,” which was based upon Christina’s infamous 1978 memoir of the same name. And now one of those properties has hit the market!
Located at 417 Amapola Ln. in tony Lower Bel Air, the pad is being offered by Richard Klug of Sotheby’s International Realty for $19,800,000. That’s $3,258 per square foot, a good $2,200 above the median price per square foot for the area, per Realtor.com! But the estate is nothing if not one-of-a-kind!
Though the listing states that this marks the first time the five-bedroom, seven-bath home has been on the market since it was originally constructed in 1942, Realtor.com shows it was sold in August 1981 for $2.6 million. Either way, it’s a historic offering!
The legendary 6,077-square-foot property was designed by Paul Revere Williams, one of Southern California’s most prolific and sought-after architects, who earned the nickname “Architect to the Stars” thanks to the many celebrities who commissioned homes from him. Built in Williams’ typical Colonial Revival style, the exterior, with its protracted circular driveway, columned façade and manicured lawn, is picturesque, if not somewhat traditional. But the interior is anything but!