Tuesday, April 29, 2014

(Producer) Richard Gladstein Sells Hollywood Spread

SELLERS: Richard and Lauri Gladstein
BUYERS: Anna Frick and Jeremy Carver
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $3,405,000
SIZE: 3,258 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Right about the time she inked an exclusive (and probably lucrative) deal to with 20th Century Fox Television in late Feb/early March (2014), according to Yolanda Yakketyyak, well-regarded television writer/producer Anna Fricke and her writer/producer hubby Jeremy Carver also inked a deal to buy a multi-million dollar residence in the Hollywood foothills. The sellers of the privately situated hillside spread, as per property records, were two-time Oscar-nominated movie producer Richard Gladstein and his wife Lauri.*

Your Mama's online research shows this estate-in-the-making must have been a hot property because it was listed in late January (2014) and sold just six short weeks later for $3,405,000, a somewhat shocking $506,000 over the $2.899 million asking price. (Didn't we tell y'all yesterday while discussing Meryl Streep's L.A. residence that the multi-million dollar market in Los Angeles is almost irrationally brisk? Anyhoo...)

Listing details show the Colonialesque Craftsman sits high on a half-plus acre lot on a private, gated street just above Hollywood Boulevard. The house was originally built in 1902, as per marketing materials and the L.A. County Tax Man, and has obviously been updated and upgraded over the last 100+ years. The humble-faced (if undeniably pricey and even a bit luxurious) 3,258 square foot house has been updated and upgraded and currently contains three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.

A black top drive sweeps up to a narrow plateau below the house and wide, shrub-lined brick steps ascend to the front door. As is customary in a house of this architectural milieu, formal living and dining rooms flack and center hall entry. The L-shaped formal living room has wood floors, a pitched ceiling sheathed in ship lath, and a cozy extension dominated and solidly anchored by a stone-faced wood-burning fireplace bracketed by narrow book shelves that, regrettably, reach almost but not quite to the ceiling.

The formal dining room, also with wood floors, has a nearly room wide multi-paned window with built-in bench seat. The sellers fearlessly mixed classically modern—white, molded plastic Panton and Saarinen chairs—with classically traditional—a Fortuny light fixture—with a whiff of the ancient and intellectual—a slightly disturbing knot of hand-carved figurines that may or may not be older than brand new and just may have been bought at some place like Pier One or World Market.

A relatively compact den/media lounge has a built-in entertainment unit with—one imagines—state-of-the-art a/v equipment and lots of shelf storage for CDs, DVDs, Blu Ray discs or whatevuh-whatevuh. There are side-lit French doors that open to a verdant sweep of garden and chevron pattern used brick floors, which Your Mama really enjoys. We also enjoy (and covet) the black and white chevron pattern rug and would happily have lay it down on the concrete-floor of our private office any day of the week. None-the-less, we feel dizzy from the cacophonous visual complexity created by that rug on that floor material. (Or maybe it's this morning's the Bloody Mary that's making Your Mama's eyes cross? But that's really neither here not there, is it?)

The wood floors in the front hall and formal living and dining rooms extends into a sunny and spacious combination kitchen/casual dining/family room where two long walls of floor-to-ceiling French doors open to green gardens. The cook-friendly center island kitchen has snow white Shaker-style cabinetry with glass-fronted uppers for in-your-face dish ware display, top-grade white-faced commercial-style appliances, and a melon colored tile back splash that we're certain will not resonate positively with more than a few of the children. The counter tops are impressively thick slabs of unknown material that Your Mama imagines all by themselves cost more than the housekeeper's late model Hyundai.

There are two guest/family bedrooms with en suite facilities on the second floor along with a city view master suite complete with separate, glass-wrapped sun porch and a fitted walk in closet. The attached master bathroom is well turned out in vintage style with honeycomb tile on the floors, white subway tiles half way up the walls, twin pedestal sinks surmounted by oval mirrors, and a claw-footed bathtub.

Although there's more than plenty of room for one, the property does not currently have a swimming pool. (It does, however, have a detached two-car garage.) Your Mama isn't so sure we'd want to spend almost $3.5 million for a house tucked up behind a bunch of ho-hum apartment complexes in Hollywood that does not even have a swimming pool. Then again, if you can spend $3.5 million for a house you probably can afford another couple hundred grand to install of killer custom swimming pool, right?

Some of the other homes in the immediate 'hood are owned, as per property records and other online resources, by Dame Helen Mirren, German-born filmmaker Roland Emmerich, art world mandarin Margo Leavin, four-time Emmy nominated producer/director Tony Krantz and American oil heiress/yoga instructor Normandie Keith.

*Miz Fricke made a name for herself writing for the show Dawson's Creek back in the early Aughts and has gone on to write and/or produce for Everwood, Men in Trees, and the American adaptation of  Being Human. Mister Carver's writer/producer credits include the sci-fi series Supernatural and the American adaptation of Being Human. Mister Gladstein's impressive list of producing credits include Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Cider House Rules, The Bourne Identity, and Finding Neverland.

listing photos: Deasy Penner & Partners

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Spread"? Its a tear down and not worthy of Mamas blog...as evidenced by zero comments till now.

Petra's said...

It's a nice property with potential but for $3.4MM, I would not want to live basically right on top of Hollywood Boulevard. I'm sure there is still noise and exhaust fumes that surround this place 24/7.

Anonymous said...

Wanted for Hire: Landscape architect willing to take on a disaster.

nursedeb said...

I actually like the house....
IF it was in
des moines. NOT hollywood, and NOT at that price.