SELLER: Dave Stewart
BUYER: Dana Brunetti
LOCATION: Toluca Lake, CA
PRICE: $3.85 million
SIZE: 5,426 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms
YOUR MAMA’S NOTES: A well-positioned birdie sent word via digital missive that Grammy-winning musician Dave Stewart has done sold his house in the affluent L.A. community of Toluca Lake to hot-to-trot television and movie producer Dana Brunetti for $3.85 million. Just in case his name does not ring any familiarity bells with those outside the entertainment industry, busy beaver Mister Brunetti has two Oscar nominations under his belt (The Social Network” and “Captain Phillips),” three Emmy nominations for the much lauded and magnificently Machiavellian Netflix original series “House of Cards,” and is one of several producers for the popularly carnal box office bonanza “Fifty Shades of Grey” along with its upcoming sequel “Fifty Shades Darker.” The sale price, not yet recorded for public consumption but leaked to this property gossip by said birdie, comes in at a tetch more than the $3.75 million price tag — we’re told there were multiple bids — but still well below the original $4.499 million asking price and only a sliver above the $3.815 million Mister Stewart paid for the 1929 Spanish Colonial in May of 2005.
Listing details show the residence, dubbed “La Casa Park French” after its original owner, pioneering Toluca Lake architect Park French, provides up to 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathroom in 5,426 square feet over three floors of restored and upgraded interior space that retains rustic original wood ceiling beams, stained and leaded glass windows, and kind of kooky carved plaster friezes that depict caballeros and dancing ladies. A wood-paneled and wood-floored library immediately off the foyer offers built-in bookshelves, a massive fireplace, and French doors to an awning-shaded terrace that overlooks the backyard gardens and pool. A secondary sitting room off the library is plenty large enough to accommodate a baby grand piano and the coffer-ceiled formal dining room connects through to a pretty nearly all-white and somewhat compact galley-style kitchen fitted with humble white ceramic counter tops and high-grade appliances. The kitchen opens to a spiral bricked dining terrace, adjoins a sunny breakfast room with bay window, and opens over a butcher block topped work space and breakfast bar to a family room with built-in bookshelves and French doors to a secluded patio. There are two en suite guest bedrooms the uppermost floor, at least one of which opens to a roomy veranda, along with the master suite that includes a small dressing area and a white-tiled and sky-lit bathroom. There’s a fourth bedroom and steam shower equipped bath on the lowest level along with a sound-proofed family/media room with series of arched French doors open to the swimming pool. Only one of 35 homes with deeded access to private Toluca Lake, the property also offers a walled and secured entry courtyard, a variety of balconies and terraces, and an organic herb garden.
In the mid-2000s, Mister Stewart, who co-founded the seminal 1980s New Wave band Eurythmics with Annie Lennox, briefly owned a 1930s French Normandy cottage just above the Sunset Strip that was owned in the late 1990s by pop star Kylie Minogue and is currently owned by “Pretty Little Liars” star Ashley Benson. Perhaps in need of more space or simply desirous of a change in residential scenery, earlier this year Mister Stewart shelled out $5.5 million for another compound-style property in Toluca Lake once owned by Howard Hughes and silent film star Billie Dove and later by sitcom producer Mark Brazill. As for Mister Brunetti, our research shows his growing property portfolio includes a privately sited contemporary residence in the celebrity-choked Oaks neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills he picked up in 2005 for $2.1 million — comedian Chris Hardwick and model/actress/media heiress Lydia Hearst recently dumped $11 million for the big ol’ mansion across the street — and in February of 2014 he spent $750,000 for a three bedroom and three bathroom condo in an unassuming complex just off bustling Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.
The property was represented by Tina Stern at Wish Sotheby’s International Realty.
