Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Jane Wyatt Up In Bel Air


SELLER: Estate of Jane Wyatt
LOCATION: 651 Siena Way, Bel Air, CA
PRICE: $5,995,000
SIZE: 4,847 square feet, 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Located in prime "Old Bel-Air", this elegant PAUL WILLIAMS trad. perched on a private 29,180 s.f. promontory, formerly owned by 3 time Emmy award winning actress. 1st time on mkt in 45 yrs. 6 bed, 8 ba, 3 fpls, huge LR w/view of classic maze garden, fml DR w/huge windows framing magnificent, rare & manicured gardens. Wood/wainscoting media room w/bar. 4 car garage w/ mtr ct. Fab GH w/private deck & grdns. Views from yard & most rooms. Original blueprints incl!

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: This property has been owned for the last 45 years by three time Emmy winning ack-tress Jane Wyatt who is best known as the quintessential television mommy from her role on the 1950s television Father Knows Best. Wyatt went on to star in and appear on dozens of programs including Star Trek, The Love Boat, and a recurring role on hospital drama St. Elsewhere in the 1980s.

According to an obituary on CNN, Wyatt died last October at the age of 96. And hunnies, she died up in this very house. And the estate has now put the house up for sale. Children, this property, located up in a very, very uppity part of Bel Air, may be the deal of the month in that uber-exclusive neck of the woods that is nestled into a crook of the Bel Air Country Club.

The new owner of this house will be surrounded by tremendous mansions and have neighbors such as producer Michael Rotenberg and gambling widow and film producer Verna Harrah.

The Paul Williams designed house eagerly awaits a new owner to shine and polish this old school beauty, and Your Mama suspects this house will be quickly purchased by an investor who will give the house the renovation once-over, have it staged with funky Hollywood Regency style furniture a la Kelly Wearstler or Jonathan Adler and sell this baby on at a substantial profit.

Your Mama does not like to speak ill of the dead, so we're going to pass over some of the less than savory elements of the home like the lack of pool and dated interior and instead concentrate on some of the finer features of the property.

Your Mama thinks that staircase is the front hall is worth noting. The sweeping curve of the stair is a great juxtaposition to the stiff and formal lines of the facade. The rooms are nicely scaled and the multiple fireplaces add to the grandeur and elegance.

We appreciate the "media" room (photo with the orange sofa), which includes a delicious wet bar that seats four or five boozers who, like Your Mama, would rather knock back high balls than screen the next Hollywood bomb.

The gardens, which the listing state as rare and manicured, look to Your Mama like they could benefit from a team of landscapers clipping and pruning the place into shape. We're not really sure what a maze garden is, but it sounds confusing and Your Mama does not like the idea of being challenged by backyard shrubbery.

Your Mama would like to extend our condolences to the Wyatt clan and hope their mama's house is purchased by someone who will preserve it rather than knock it down.

Sources: CNN, Internet Movie Data Base

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