BUYER: Dave Stewart
LOCATION: Toluca Lake, Calif.
PRICE: $5.5 million
SIZE: 4,761 square feet 5 bedrooms, 6 bathroom
YOUR MAMA’S NOTES: As was first reported by the property gossips at the L.A. Times, musician and producer Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame has dropped $5.5 million on a Tinseltown-pedigreed residence in L.A.’s affluent and celeb-friendly Toluca Lake community.
Online marketing materials show the house was originally built in the mid-1920s by “Toluca Lake pioneer and designer W. Klump” and was later owned by Howard Hughes and silent film star Billie Dove. Listings go on to say that Greta Garbo and Janet Gaynor battled each other for the property — we’re not sure who won — and our research indicates the gated mini-compound was owned for a couple of years in the mid-Aughts by sitcom producer Mark Brazill. (Property records and other digital resources suggest and real estate yenta Yolanda Yakketyyak says she’ll swear on 47 pounds of artisanal toast that Mister Brazill sold the property in 2006 for $4.5 million to film and television producer, music manager and investor Laura McCorkindale.)
Listing details, which vexingly describe the house as a “Santa Barbara style authentic & chic Spanish estate,” show the recently restored and fully upgraded two-story main house has five bedrooms and six bathrooms in 4,761 square feet plus a couple of detached guesthouses/offices.
Primary living spaces include a tile-floored, double-height central foyer, formal living and dining rooms — both with wood floors and the former with a fireplace, a loggia lined with arched windows, a den/family room wood beamed ceiling and a spacious eat-in kitchen with snack bar-equipped center island, high-grade appliances and period tile back splashes. At least one of the upper floor bedrooms opens to a private balcony, and the master suite lets out to a curtained and canopied terrace with views over the yard and the golf course beyond.
The fully landscaped grounds include a huge flat and well-watered front lawn, a series of stone terraces and patios, a fountain or two, an outdoor fireplace and a swimming pool. A circular motor court and three-car detached garage sit between the main house and a pair of guesthouse/offices, at least one of which has a private bathroom and kitchenette.
This isn’t, as it turns out, the only home Mister Stewart owns in Toluca Lake. Back in May 2005 he spent $3,815,000 for a walled and gated 5,426-square-foot Mediterranean with backyard access to tiny Toluca Lake.
Listing photos: John Aaroe Group
