The Goldwyn Mansion Goes on the Block

SELLER: Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
LOCATION: Laurel Lane, Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $24,000,000
SIZE: 10,982 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: First time ever on the market. Exquisite classic traditional architecture set on 2 BH acres on a cul-de-sac behind Beverly Hills Hotel. This superb residence has an ideal flr pln w/ patio loggias, wonderful yard, pool patio & hse. Sunken lighted profess. tennis crt. The main residence greets you w/ an elegant staircase, lovely galleria, perfectly scaled rms, 35MM projection rm. Main level offers guest ste w/ prvt entrance. Oversized motor crt. City lights. Once in a lifetime opportunity.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Hold on to your britches children because a little slice of Hollywood real estate history has hit the market. According to listing information and property records, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the scion and son of Tinseltown tycoon Samuel Goldwyn (he of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, natch), has put the family's famous Bev Hill estate on the market with an asking price of $24,000,000.

The legendary Georgian style mansion on Laurel Lane was built in 1934 and in addition to hosting some of the biggest names in Hollywood including Charlie Chaplin, George Cukor, Frank Capra, Clark Gable and old school lesbian Marlene Dietrich, the property was often used as collateral to finance films produced by the senior Goldwyn.

Although the listing states the sprawling residence has an ideal floor plan and perfectly scaled rooms, Mister Goldwyn Jr. is quoted in a New York Times article from 2004 as saying, "It's slightly jerry-built in such a way that you can't really change anything short of tearing it down." That would indicate the floor plan might be a bit quirky and less than ideal, but children who would want to tear down a house where the famously pugnacious Mister Goldwyn Sr. allegedly won Bette Davis for her role in The Little Foxes in a poker game from movie mogul Jack Warner?

Pictures of the property are slim, but listing information reveals that guests are greeted and impressed by an over-sized motor court suitable for turning long limousines. The main house includes living and dining rooms, a den, family room, a library/studio, a 35mm projection room, an office, a kitchen with breakfast area.

Other amenities includes garage parking for 4 cars, three fireplaces, a glammy, celebrity style and solar heated swimming pool and adjacent pool house, a sunken and lighted tennis court with a proper north/south alignment, terraced gardens, expansive lawns, an elevator for the lazy and the infirm, and a guest suite on the main level with it's own entrance.

Rich Hollywood types sit with checkbooks in hand waiting for properties like this to come up for sale and Your Mama predicts the Goldwyn estate will sell quickly and possibly for more than the asking price. Yes children, we said it, for more than the asking price. But then again, we've been wrong in the past and we'll be wrong in the future, so we'll just have to wait with baited breath like all the other real estate queens out there and see what transpires.