Mid-Century Modern in Beverly Hills

SELLER: Estate of Ray Evans
LOCATION: Angelo Road, Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $9,995,000
SIZE: 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION:Designed in 1952 by architect William Beckett, the mid century modern house & separate guesthouse w/ pool on almost 4 acres. The main rooms have 12-foot ceilings & the other rooms are all in original condition. The property has panoramic views from downtown LA to the Pacific Ocean & is located less than 5 minutes from Sunset Blvd. Rambling pathways traverse acres of hillside property & lots of mature landscaping. Extremely private.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It seems too seldom that Your Mama gets to pontificate and blather on about the home of a public figure in which we would actually want to live. Such is the case of the beyond bee-yoo-tee-us Beverly Hills property being sold by the Ray Evans estate with an asking price of $9,995,000.

Had we ten million clams, and we most certainly do not, Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter would snap this place up faster than a pill popper could crush and snort an 80mg Oxycontin tablet. We know y'all are whining and rollin' yer eyes and acting all superior about how mid century modern is so damn tired that it was tired 5 years ago, but frankly we don't care. We love it anyway. Plus, good design transcends trend.

Anyhoo, the children may not recognize Mister Evans' name, but certainly many of you will recognize some of the Oscar winning musical masterpieces he wrote such as Doris Day's Que Sera Sera, Dinah Shore's Buttons and Bows, and Nat King Cole's Mona Lisa. Mister Evans lived to the ripe old age of 92 before he went to meet the great composer in the sky in 2007.

Your Mama was first notified about this property several days ago by someone we'll call Peter Passesalonginformation, and with the help of Our Fairy Godmother in Beverly Hills we were able to locate listing information which reveals that the Angelo Drive compound was designed by little lauded mid-century modern architect William Becket. It appears the house was built in 1952 by and for Mister Evans and his wifey Wyn.

Information Your Mama located on the handy dandy interweb tells us the Evans residence sits on almost four acres of prime property and is comprised of three separate pavilions which meander down sloping landscape. The upper most structure contains the the carport, entrance and living spaces, and the middle structure the sleeping quarters. A glassed in bridge connects the two upper units. The lowest and smallest structure, adjacent to the gorgeously glam oval shaped swimming pool, was intended for guests.

Fortunately for guests, the driveway continues beyond and around the living and sleeping pavilions and curves down the hill to the guest house. While it's wonderful to provide guests a perfectly private space to do the dirty and the nasty, it's not so hospitable to ask them to clamor down a dark hillside after a boozy night of barbecue and backgammon.

Listing information indicates the residence includes 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. To be honest children, we're not sure if all those bedrooms are located in the sleeping pavilion or if those numbers include the bedroom(s) and terlit(s) in the guest quarters.

We're loathe to speak ill of the dead's day-core, so we'll not discuss the bothersome beige carpeting in the living room or the upsetting chandelier situation in the dining room. What we will say is that the Evans residence looks to be the home of a thinking person who cared about and paid attention to art, architecture and design but did not take it all too seriously.

We'd be delighted to see this property after the next owner dumps a good sized wad of cash into updating and upgrading the services and systems and hires a nice gay decorator to do William Beckett (and Ray and Wyn Evans) proud.