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Wandering past this stretch of the Beverly Hills neighborhood and stumbling upon this surreal architectural fantasy, you might just think you’ve accidentally landed up in Disneyland. It’s also been the source of numerous accidents since almost impossible to drive past this eccentric dwelling without doing a double take. The exaggerated lines of this home are starkly contrasted with the traditional structures of its neighbors and more reflective of the Gingerbread house of Hansel and Gretel than anything you’ll find in an architectural textbook. “He had owned [the] lot at the time, so he moved the house here to Beverly Hills and turned it into a functioning home.
Behind The Scenes Of Halloween At Spadena House
After changing hands a few times, Libow took a chance on the property when it hit the market again in the 90s. After growing up in the neighborhood and becoming a local real estate agent, with a burgeoning fascination with architecture, he saw the opportunity to hold onto—and live in—a little slice of fantastical history. Inspired by Gaudi’s design sensibility, he went on to ensure the inside matched the fascinating exterior. Public records show that Libow paid $1,267,510 back in 1998 for the storybook home, but the witch’s house is now worth well over $6,000,000. Described as the quintessential Hansel and Gretel house, the Spadena House was designed by Hollywood art director Harry Oliver who worked on more than 30 films between 1919 and 1938. “The thing that makes this property important is it set the bar for storybook architecture in Los Angeles during the ’20s and ’30s,” Kimberly Reiss of Beverly Hills Heritage told CNN of the Witch’s House.
The Fascinating History Of The Beverly Hills 'Witch House'
In fact, Walt Disney himself considered Oliver’s designs (and storybook architecture in general) a major influence on his Imagineering program. This design style is fittingly referred to as “storybook architecture.” As the Spadena house illustrates, storybook architecture was defined by a distorted representation of medieval style, all wayward walls and cascading witch hat roofs. And faux dilapidation really sold this funhouse mirror version of primitive cottages. Soon the storybook style was proliferating all over Los Angeles, then in the midst of a massive building boom. The 1920s Hollywoodland development in Beachwood Canyon featured a civic center designed in storybook style and included fairytale cottages featuring accents including rubble stone chimneys and picturesque drawbridges.
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Now, the spooky destination is a favorite spot for trick-or-treaters every Halloween. Then there are the Hobbit Houses, designed by Lawrence Joseph, a nautically obsessed carpenter and aerospace engineer who worked at Disney for two weeks before being escorted out of the studio, according to longtime resident Vince Tanzilli. In the 1940s, Joseph began creating his own fairytale land, which featured a fish-stocked pond, cottages with spooky exteriors, and interiors reminiscent of the cabin of boats, with plank flooring and built-in furniture. Joseph would officially complete the project in 1970, but tinkered with it until his death in 1991.
Naming the Spadena House
The structure was moved to Beverly Hills in 1926 and that's when it was converted into a home. It was built 100 years ago in Culver City for Willat Studios, before it was moved to its current location and turned into a home. "There's old Beverly [Hills] and there's new Beverly [Hills]," he said. Postcard with an image of the Witch's House (Courtesy of Beverly Hills Historical Society) Obviously, the home was a major attraction every October 31.
How much is the Beverly Hills witch house worth?
Trudi Sandmeier, who previously worked at the Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation organization, told the Los Angeles Times that this style was most popular in our city, more so than any other place in the country. "Storybook houses are an outgrowth of the blurred line of fantasy and reality that is particular to Los Angeles," she said. Oscar-nominated art director Harry Oliver originally built this structure for the Willat silent film studio. The Witch's House, also known as the Spadena House, is an enchanting house in the heart of Beverly Hills that appears to be plucked straight out of a fairytale.
The style is whimsical and intentionally dilapidated, giving it a somewhat spooky look. But today, the Spadena house is officially considered a protected historic landmark by the city of Beverly Hills. And while Libow’s always known what he’s got, he’s also made it clear that he loves sharing that joy with the community. Cascading tile shards rain down archways that create a cavernous feeling to bathrooms and stairwells, but never compromise a sense of luxury.
Halloween House
The Spadena house punctuating a little over a quarter of an acre of premium Beverly Hills land further emphasized by its sterling zip code. Beyond an English garden straight out of a gothic romance, all thistles and black dahlias, you’ll cross a restored moat populated by languid koi. The return of the moat is the first indicator of Libow’s extensive renovations that sought to move the Spadena house closer to Oliver’s original vision, though with more than a heaping helping of Libow’s own creative input.
The style became particularly popular in Northern California, with mountains and forests perfect for a haunted cottage or mansion. The brothers who owned Willat Productions eventually closed the studio down with plans to demolish the Witch's House, but film producer Ward Lascelle wanted to purchase it to use as his own private residence. He moved the property from Culver City to its current location on the corner of Walden Drive and Carmelita Avenue in Beverly Hills. There are differing historical references about when it exactly moved to Beverly Hills, but the earliest building permits to the home date back to 1924, when a new two-car garage was installed in the back of the house. Kimberly Reiss, president of the historical foundation Beverly Hills Heritage, told CNN, "The thing that makes this property important is it set the bar for storybook architecture in Los Angeles during the '20s and '30s." The Spadena family were the first residents of the 3,500 square feet home, which is why the house is sometimes referred to as ‘The Spadena House’.
It's not just the way the house looks that makes it so fascinating; it's the history as well. The cottage was first constructed in 1920 for Willat Productions by the silent film studio's art director Harry Oliver (who also designed Los Feliz's Tam O'Shanter storybook restaurant). It served the cost-cutting purpose of not only being a studio office, but also a dressing room and film set. Hollywood art director Harry Oliver concocted the design for the Spadena house.
15 Whimsical Fairytale Houses Around the World - Architectural Digest
15 Whimsical Fairytale Houses Around the World.
Posted: Mon, 21 Nov 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]
If you’re into witch culture and have long been obsessing about unique abodes like the Practical Magic house, you’re going to love the Spadena House. From custom cabinetry and built-ins to curved walls, wooden ceilings, and fanciful tile work, the entire home is spectacularly odd. Libow even purchased furniture to match the storybook theme, including a dining room table with a base made from a tree trunk.
And it’s all radiating from the subject of this spookily spectacular Los Angeles Home Spotlight. Hold onto your broomsticks and bedknobs as we enter the Spadena house, sometimes referred to in hushed tones as the Beverly Hills witch house. While it may seem like you’ll be lured in by a mysterious resident with a suspicious wart and broom collection, it is in fact the home of a real estate agent Michael J. Libow. He has been lovingly restoring this mind-boggling eyesore to its perfectly decrepit state over the last two decades.
The result was enough to make even the most cynical skeptics believe in magic. When Libow took the listing for the mystical manor in 1997, he described its state as a “sixties nightmare.” While he wasn’t a fan of what the Greens had done with the place, he loved the storybook architecture of the unique domicile. He found the home’s charms so enchanting that he intuitively took up the champion’s mantle, forbidding anyone from tearing it down. Sometime in the 1930s, a musician began renting a portion of the Beverly Hills witch house from the Lascelle family. His name was Louis Spadena and he was still there when the Lascelles divorced in 1938.
The home was originally built as an office and dressing room for Irvin Willat’s film studio in Culver City, but was later relocated to Beverly Hills where it sits today. The now private home has many distinguishing features, making it seem straight out of a fairy tale novel. Also known as the Spadena House, it's the epicenter of the storybook style or architecture that took shape in America in the 1920s and '30s, as documented in architect Aarol Gellner's book, "Storybook Style," with photographs by Douglas Keister. Over the years, Libow reinvented the home’s interior, sinking enough into the enterprise to have easily afforded a whole new property instead. He called upon masters in their field including artisans and set designers to make his most fantastic dreams a tangible reality.
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