A Renovated Victorian in Los Angeles With Views of the Hollywood Sign

Listing of the Day

Location: Los Angeles, California

Price: $8.999 million

This Queen Anne Victorian in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, may have been built in 1902, but after an extensive, painstaking renovation, it now offers all the high-end finishes of a new build.

That transformation is thanks to its owner—celebrity home flipper and designer, Xorin Balbes— who has renovated and sold over 40 historic properties in Los Angeles, Maui and Montecito.

Mr. Balbes bought the Hancock Park property in January for $3.19 million per city records, and said he poured over $3.5 million into renovating it. According to the property’s listing agent, Billy Rose of The Agency, Mr. Balbes "transformed what was a dark, kind of gothic, overbearing house and lightened it up and made it much more cheery and bright."

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The home still retains its charming historical details, however, as Mr. Balbes was restricted in what renovations he was able to do to it due to its status. In 1988, it was designated a Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument, and it also qualifies for the Mills Act (a California state law that provides tax incentives for owners of historic homes who agree to conserve them).  

Designed by famed architect John C. Austin—who also designed the Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles City Hall and the Shrine Auditorium— the home was originally built in a different location east on Wilshire Boulevard. In 1923, its then-owner decided to move it, separating the whole house onto three trucks, and bringing it to its current location in the fashionable Hancock-Park-Wilshire neighborhood.

Mr. Balbes said he didn’t uncover many traces of the home’s big move during his renovation, but noted that he had to reinforce its structure to bring it up to modern day codes.   

"I really make sure a house is rock solid when it’s done," he said, "So now it’s got at least another hundred years of life in it."

The Stats

The 12,147-square-foot home has six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and one half bathroom, plus a guest house with an additional two bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms. The property sits on an 18,900-square-foot lot.

Amenities

In the basement, there is a movie screening room and a wine cellar. On the top floor, there is a billiards room, a game room and a yoga/meditation room. Outside, Mr. Balbes added a swimming pool and Jacuzzi, and the home has a two-car garage, plus private parking space for an additional 10 cars and a porte cochere alongside the house.

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Celebrity Cachet

The home was featured in a Halloween episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210" and the movies "Willard" and "The Addams Family."

Agent: Billy Rose, The Agency

View the original listing.

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