In the mid-1900s, award-winning composer Alfred Newman commissioned Lloyd Wright, the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, to build him a house in Los Angeles’ Rustic Canyon neighborhood.
By 1950, Wright had designed and built a home complete with traces of his father’s signature style and a music studio where Newman, who won nine Oscars, worked.
Since then, the house has had the influence of one more Southern California architecture aficionado: award-winning actress Diane Keaton.
Keaton bought the property in 2007 and undertook a restoration project that included expanding the primary bedroom and making the home more open, said listing agent Frank Langen. Much of the home, including built-in shelving and the general design, are still original, though.
Now, the five-bedroom, four-bathroom home is on the market. It’s listed for $12.88 million, according to Homes.com. Listing agent Diana Braun holds the listing alongside Langen. Both agents are with Compass.
It's a home full of ‘grace’
The window-lined residence sits at the end of a winding driveway on a 1.4-acre lot, Langen said.
“It has a lot of grace and grounds,” he added, “which is sort of reminiscent of California of the past.”
The spacious grounds stand in contrast to the roughly 4,400-square-foot home itself, an unusual juxtaposition for the area, according to Langen.
“Instead of having a house that’s built to the maximum, to maximize the potential of the land, it’s the opposite,” he said.
Inside, the residence is light and open, with walls of windows, brick and wood. The first floor opens out to the backyard, which includes a pool, stone fire pit and a patio.
“It’s sort of whimsical,” Langen said of the property. “It’s quite a statement as far as the angles and the material.”
Selling ultra-luxury in Pacific Palisades presents a challenge
Even as he raved about the home, Langen acknowledged that the property could be a difficult sell. That’s because it’s on the cusp of the burn zone of the Palisades fire that tore through the region in January.
“To drive up to the house, you have to go by some burnt properties,” he said. “Our council person called us the ‘Twilight Zone’ because we’re literally in between North of Montana, Santa Monica, which is untouched, and the Palisades, which has been completely decimated.”
Up until now, the market for luxury houses in the $8 million-plus price range has been “non-existent,” according to Langen. But he’s hopeful that could soon change.
“It typically takes about six months for people to get through their shock,” he said. “I mean, it’s not going to be back to what it was before, but people…they’re not just like deer in headlights where they don’t know which way to move.”
As an incentive for buyers, Langen said his sellers are including completed plans for a roughly 4,000-square-foot addition. The couple had intended to complete the renovation themselves, but they unexpectedly moved ahead of the fires.
For now, Langen said, there are neighbors interested in purchasing the home after smoke from the fires left their house unlivable.
“I think you’re going to have someone creative that’s capable of thinking outside of the box and not just buying what they think they should buy because their neighbors are building it,” he said.