Friday, March 15, 2013

Week End Wrap Up (03.15.13): Patricia Heaton

BUYER: Patricia Heaton and David Hunt
LOCATION: Toluca Lake, CA
PRICE: $5,400,000
SIZE: 7,649 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The long-legged gal at Trulia Luxe Living reported this week that sit-com queen Patricia Heaton (The Middle, Everybody Loves Raymond) has her huge and historic 8,400 square foot Elmer Grey-designed mansion on two adjacent lots in L.A.'s hoity-toity Hancock Park 'hood in escrow (for an unknown price) and has already purchased her next home, a faux-Tuscan villa in the poshest pocket of the L.A.'s affluent Toluca Lake community.

Miz Heaton and her husband David Hunt paid $5,400,000 for the the walled and gated residence that sits on .75 landscaped acres, was originally built in 1998 and measures 7,649 square feet. Interestingly that's about 800 square feet smaller than the family's previous residence in Hancock Park, not counting the additional living space/media room they had above garage.

Property records Your Mama peeped show the seller was Francis von Zerneck, the Emmy nominated actor/director/writer son of Emmy nominated t.v. movie producer Frank von Zerneck and B-movie actress Julie Mannix (Portrait of a Stripper, Flatbed Annie & Sweetiepie: Lady Truckers, Sharon: Portrait of a Mistress).

Listing details describe the property rather grandiloquently as "One of the most important estate to ever come on the market in Toluca Lake." We don't know about that but we do know that the bulky, ochre-colored two story abode has five bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, garage parking for four cars and at least three fireplaces. Main living spaces include formal living and dining rooms, a library/office and a well equipped but stylistically banal chef-friendly center island kitchen with breakfast room and adjoining family room. In addition to the main staircase in the double-height impress-the-guests double-height entrance hall, an elevator whisks the lazy and/or the infirm between the home's two floors.

The deep back yard has expansive balustrade bordered dining and entertaining terraces, "park-like grounds, a heated swimming pool, spa and poolside cabana.

So, children, did Miz Heaton and Mister Hunt make a good real estate trade? Discuss...

listing photos: Coldwell Banker

14 comments:

Grrrowler said...

The Hancock Park house has so much more character. I love the Old Hollywood feel of it. Were it my house, I would have stayed instead of going to Toluca Lake.

Anonymous said...

Ain't no riff raff nowhere near Toluca Lake, honey. Hancock Park is surrounded by urban realness...Just a stone's throw in any direction. The great sprawl of the L.A. basin defined by finding your 'township'

WrteStufLA said...

Whether or not Ms. Heaton made a good "real estate trade" will be highly subjective. But I wouldn't be surprised if the "real trade" more involved relocating closer to the Warner Brothers TV studios, where her series is shot. Her new home is located all of 5 minutes away from her dressing room. Quite a few current and former TV stars have chosen to live in Toluca Lake for that very reason.

Anonymous said...

Character and charm is all swell until you have to live there and deal with the realities of an old house and lack of privacy.

Anonymous said...

Don't get it. I just don't get it. I mean, I get that she might want to relocate closer to work. But what I don't get is why someone who was attracted to an "architecturally significant" house would then be attracted to this place -- which definitely is not. Maybe the good architecture was just coincidental.

And if it's more privacy they're looking for, I don't think they're going to find it here. The new place is crammed to the edge of both side property lines with adjacent houses very close on the other sides of those lines.

Anonymous said...

r u kidding? toluca lake is glorified North Hollywood; Hancock Park house is amazing. Less and Less stars moving to Toluca

Anonymous said...

Hancock Park house would be perfect with some updates. But the area sucks. Crime and ghetto peeps everywhere. Too bad she couldn't transplant her old house up to Toluca.

Unknown said...

Neither Toluca or Hancock is that great IMO, it would only be a trade up if she'd gotten something in Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, Pac Pal, etc. (Hell, even The Oaks/Los Feliz hills), at least then the trade-off in terms of a house with less charm & character but in a better location could be looked at as a trade up, but to go to a McMansion in Toluca Lake from one of the grandest mansions in Hancock Park? Seems overall like a trade-down to me...

Anonymous said...

Nothing so far seems to explain this purchase.

Next tack is that she has kids either at Harvard Westlake upper school in Studio City, or maybe more likely, at a Christian academy somewhere in the Valley.

Otherwise, it'll have to be chalked up to fundamental bad taste trumping the advice of whoever convinced them to buy the last house.

I'm assuming that the huge Bob Hope estate around the corner from their new place is just about to come on the market with a subdivision plan that includes the demolition of the existing house. Anybody know what's up with that one? (The Hopes already sold off some lots at the rear of their property some years ago. One of the houses built was bought, and may be stilled owned by Billy Ray Cyrus.)

Anonymous said...

"One of the most important estates to ever come on the market in Toluca Lake."

The scary thing is that this was almost certainly written without an iota of irony or guffawing among the brokers in the office. They actually believe this sh*t. (I don't know what actual estates used to exist here, but, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, I believe the only one left is Bob Hope's.(

Is it possible to have integrity and be a real estate agent? I mean it's one thing to be a sales person for a product that you believe in, but a real estate agent is often asked to "sell" something that they personally hate. I suppose if you just approach it as a numbers game (good investment, etc.) it's easier to get up in the morning and go through this another day.

lil' gay boy said...

snark

The way I feel about this place can be summed up by the axiom that some people get exactly what they deserve...

/snark

Anonymous said...

This looks like something out of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Edit= somethong out of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills that is not owned by Camille Grammer.

Take that as you may...

Anonymous said...

Lovely Home, I love toluca lake, lovely small town feel around the city, and studios. It's very quaint. Hancock park home is great as well, the neighborhood is just a little gritty. Hancock is still lovely and prestige, the 'hood is just gritty.

Anonymous said...

Taxes, people, taxes! Not to mention Four Boys - the kids and possibly the production company as well. 1st boy already started college and the 2nd one just graduated high school in May. Don't you guys keep up? I do agree with the person who said the new house is close to WB, where her show is shot. Have you driven around LA lately? Horrendous!