Spadena House Wikipedia

Table Of Content

• Enchanting Photos Of Spadena House, The Storybook Cottage In The Middle Of Beverly Hills
• Spellbinding storybooks
• Spadena House, California: A Piece Of Bavaria in Beverly Hills
• Naming the Spadena House
• How much is the Beverly Hills witch house worth?
• The Spadena House is a perfect example of storybook architecture
• Inside the Beverly Hills "Witch's House"

The style became particularly popular in Northern California, with mountains and forests perfect for a haunted cottage or mansion. The brothers who owned Willat Productions eventually closed the studio down with plans to demolish the Witch's House, but film producer Ward Lascelle wanted to purchase it to use as his own private residence. He moved the property from Culver City to its current location on the corner of Walden Drive and Carmelita Avenue in Beverly Hills. There are differing historical references about when it exactly moved to Beverly Hills, but the earliest building permits to the home date back to 1924, when a new two-car garage was installed in the back of the house. Kimberly Reiss, president of the historical foundation Beverly Hills Heritage, told CNN, "The thing that makes this property important is it set the bar for storybook architecture in Los Angeles during the '20s and '30s." The Spadena family were the first residents of the 3,500 square feet home, which is why the house is sometimes referred to as ‘The Spadena House’.

Enchanting Photos Of Spadena House, The Storybook Cottage In The Middle Of Beverly Hills

Trudi Sandmeier, who previously worked at the Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation organization, told the Los Angeles Times that this style was most popular in our city, more so than any other place in the country. "Storybook houses are an outgrowth of the blurred line of fantasy and reality that is particular to Los Angeles," she said. Oscar-nominated art director Harry Oliver originally built this structure for the Willat silent film studio. The Witch's House, also known as the Spadena House, is an enchanting house in the heart of Beverly Hills that appears to be plucked straight out of a fairytale.

Spellbinding storybooks

The structure was moved to Beverly Hills in 1926 and that's when it was converted into a home. It was built 100 years ago in Culver City for Willat Studios, before it was moved to its current location and turned into a home. "There's old Beverly [Hills] and there's new Beverly [Hills]," he said. Postcard with an image of the Witch's House (Courtesy of Beverly Hills Historical Society) Obviously, the home was a major attraction every October 31.

Spadena House, California: A Piece Of Bavaria in Beverly Hills

The Spadena house punctuating a little over a quarter of an acre of premium Beverly Hills land further emphasized by its sterling zip code. Beyond an English garden straight out of a gothic romance, all thistles and black dahlias, you’ll cross a restored moat populated by languid koi. The return of the moat is the first indicator of Libow’s extensive renovations that sought to move the Spadena house closer to Oliver’s original vision, though with more than a heaping helping of Libow’s own creative input.

Witch's House brings a bit of magic to Beverly Hills - Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Witch's House brings a bit of magic to Beverly Hills.

Posted: Mon, 12 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Meanwhile, a wrought iron spider web and spider, along with combined with pointed roof resembling a witch’s hat, make the house a magnet for Halloween trick or treaters. Every Halloween Libow anticipates between three and four thousand appearing at his door. Thanks to its restoration, gnarled trees, and a wooden bridge spanning a moat, Spadena House’s has a magical, storybook appeal. In either 1926 or 1934 (there’s no definitive record of it), it was moved to its current location. The house regained admirers, despite being a private residence since then.

How much is the Beverly Hills witch house worth?

Creating a bewitching effect in Los Angeles, storybook architecture offered an exaggerated medieval style with many of the buildings designed with crooked walls and swayback roofs. Originally built in 1921, the Spadena House was created as the offices and dressing rooms for Irvin Willat’s film studio in Culver City, Calif. Located on the corner of Walden Drive and Carmelita Avenue, the storybook house was built in the early 1900s for a Hollywood silent film, then went on to become one of L.A.’s most recognizable private homes. Long after the storybook architecture craze died out in California, Spadena House remained standing as a testament to the era. A second family moved in during the 1960s and renovated much of the interior, but they left the exterior mostly intact. This whimsical cottage in the middle of Beverly Hills started as an office space for a silent film studio in the early 1920s.

The style is whimsical and intentionally dilapidated, giving it a somewhat spooky look. But today, the Spadena house is officially considered a protected historic landmark by the city of Beverly Hills. And while Libow’s always known what he’s got, he’s also made it clear that he loves sharing that joy with the community. Cascading tile shards rain down archways that create a cavernous feeling to bathrooms and stairwells, but never compromise a sense of luxury.

Inside the Beverly Hills "Witch's House"

There’s a house in Beverly Hills, California, that might be the perfect place to go when trick-or-treating. The pitched roof is covered in unusually-shaped dark shingles, giving off the illusion of a dilapidated gingerbread house. The designer of the Spadena House went on to play a major role in storybook architecture. With no two windows or angles alike and a whimsical storybook architecture, the Spadena House is undoubtedly one of the most unique homes in all of Los Angeles.

Beverly Hills Bermuda Triangle

Over the decades, the various residents of the Spadena house instituted alterations further distancing the home from its production studio roots. One family, most likely the Greens, added a skylight to bring more natural vibrance into the nearly 4,000-square foot floor plan. From its delightfully distressed appearance and exaggerated features, the Spadena house doesn’t look quite of this time. But it exhibits a type of architecture that was somewhat popular during Hollywood’s golden age. Meanwhile, the house’s history of appearances on the big screen has continued as well. Most notable is the 1995 film Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone.

The result was enough to make even the most cynical skeptics believe in magic. When Libow took the listing for the mystical manor in 1997, he described its state as a “sixties nightmare.” While he wasn’t a fan of what the Greens had done with the place, he loved the storybook architecture of the unique domicile. He found the home’s charms so enchanting that he intuitively took up the champion’s mantle, forbidding anyone from tearing it down. Sometime in the 1930s, a musician began renting a portion of the Beverly Hills witch house from the Lascelle family. His name was Louis Spadena and he was still there when the Lascelles divorced in 1938.

Wandering past this stretch of the Beverly Hills neighborhood and stumbling upon this surreal architectural fantasy, you might just think you’ve accidentally landed up in Disneyland. It’s also been the source of numerous accidents since almost impossible to drive past this eccentric dwelling without doing a double take. The exaggerated lines of this home are starkly contrasted with the traditional structures of its neighbors and more reflective of the Gingerbread house of Hansel and Gretel than anything you’ll find in an architectural textbook. “He had owned [the] lot at the time, so he moved the house here to Beverly Hills and turned it into a functioning home.

The house was built in 1921 for a silent film movie studio, Willat Studios in Culver City, to serve as its offices and dressing rooms. When the studio closed, the Spadena family moved the home to its current location in Beverly Hills, where it has been since 1934. By the 1920s, Los Angeles was filled with talented craftspeople and artists from across the globe, lured by studio work. The city was flush with dramatic, newly monied movie moguls and stars looking for luxurious living quarters befitting their new status. Los Angeles became a paradise of unique revival styles of architecture. Picturesque, idealized versions of everything from Mediterranean villas to Spanish Missions and Greek Revival plantations began to pop up everywhere.

The witch house’s first residents were the Spadena family, who lent the property their name. During renovations, Libow told the Los Angeles Times, "We're going for a Gaudí-esque cottage look," referring to Antoni Gaudí and his signature organic style of design and architecture. With a crooked roof, rustic gardens, a rickety fence, and a moat, the property looks like it was plucked straight out of a fairytale. In fact, Spadena House is the epitome of the storybook architectural style that gripped Los Angeles in the 1920s and '30s. The Spadena House, also known as The Witch's House, is a storybook house in Beverly Hills, California.

If you’re into witch culture and have long been obsessing about unique abodes like the Practical Magic house, you’re going to love the Spadena House. From custom cabinetry and built-ins to curved walls, wooden ceilings, and fanciful tile work, the entire home is spectacularly odd. Libow even purchased furniture to match the storybook theme, including a dining room table with a base made from a tree trunk.

Sneak a Peek Inside the Witch's House of Beverly Hills - Los Angeles Magazine

Sneak a Peek Inside the Witch's House of Beverly Hills.

Posted: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It's not just the way the house looks that makes it so fascinating; it's the history as well. The cottage was first constructed in 1920 for Willat Productions by the silent film studio's art director Harry Oliver (who also designed Los Feliz's Tam O'Shanter storybook restaurant). It served the cost-cutting purpose of not only being a studio office, but also a dressing room and film set. Hollywood art director Harry Oliver concocted the design for the Spadena house.

After changing hands a few times, Libow took a chance on the property when it hit the market again in the 90s. After growing up in the neighborhood and becoming a local real estate agent, with a burgeoning fascination with architecture, he saw the opportunity to hold onto—and live in—a little slice of fantastical history. Inspired by Gaudi’s design sensibility, he went on to ensure the inside matched the fascinating exterior. Public records show that Libow paid $1,267,510 back in 1998 for the storybook home, but the witch’s house is now worth well over $6,000,000. Described as the quintessential Hansel and Gretel house, the Spadena House was designed by Hollywood art director Harry Oliver who worked on more than 30 films between 1919 and 1938. “The thing that makes this property important is it set the bar for storybook architecture in Los Angeles during the ’20s and ’30s,” Kimberly Reiss of Beverly Hills Heritage told CNN of the Witch’s House.