SELLER: Jeff Dunham
LOCATION: Encino, Calif.
PRICE: $5,199,000
SIZE: 6,522 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms
YOUR MAMA’S NOTES: After spending just over $4 million last year for big new digs in the guard-gated and celebrity-filled Hidden Hills enclave in L.A.’s far western suburbs, top-grossing ventriloquist comedian Jeff Dunham has dropped his former manse in Encino on the open market with an asking price of $5,199,000.
Property records we peeped at show Mister Dunham, one of the highest-earning comedians on the planet — he reportedly hauled in an estimated $30 million from June 2008 through June 2009 n— acquired the faux-Tuscan residence in July 2009 for $4,250,000. Current listing details show the two-story house, built in 2008 and described in listing details as an “’Old World’ custom estate” with newfangled features such as a home automation system that controls the lighting, audio-visual equipment and heating and cooling systems, has five bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms in 6,522 square feet.
A double-gated circular driveway and gated courtyard leads to a stone-sheathed rotunda entry with double-height ceiling and dark-chocolate wood floors that run throughout the main floor living spaces. Immediately off the entry are formal living and dining rooms, the latter with vaulted exposed wood ceiling and the former with fireplace, built-in bookshelves, a piano alcove and French doors to the backyard. Less formal family quarters include an office with half-paneled walls, a library/media lounge with corner fireplace and built-in bar and a party-sized family room with stone fireplace, exposed wood ceiling and direct backyard access. The family room is open to the expensively outfitted, double-island kitchen with both granite and wood countertops and an adjoining breakfast room.
The second floor master has another stone-faced fireplace surmounted by a flatscreen television, a custom fitted walk-in closet and a private stone-tiled terrace with backyard overlook. The roomy master bathroom includes an unusually large shower room and a free-standing soaking tub set in front of a raised fireplace surmounted by a yet another flatscreen television.
The back of the house opens to an arched loggia, a small patch of grass and a freeform pool with beach entry and elevated spa. A sizable stone terrace has an outdoor fireplace and built-in grilling station, while a detached stone pavilion accommodates a private guest suite and kitchenette-equipped lounge.
Mister Dunham’s aforementioned new house in Hidden Hills, another faux-Tuscan-type mansion he and his second missus, fitness and nutritional consultant Audrey Murdick, picked up in May 2014 for $4.033 million, sits on 2.3 acres and measures in at 7,204 square feet with six bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms and expansive views over the San Fernando Valley.
Listing photos: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
