Hollywood’s Golden Age produced more than iconic films; it created a culture of opulent living where the industry’s most luminous female stars built sprawling estates that reflected their power and allure. These mansions were more than homes—they were symbols of success, sanctuaries from the public eye, and stages for the drama of their owners’ lives. Yet, time has not been kind to many of these architectural treasures.
From Elizabeth Taylor’s Bel Air fortress to Marilyn Monroe’s final retreat, these properties have faced demolition, neglect, and the relentless march of progress.
Elizabeth Taylor’s Bel Air Sanctuary
In 1982, at a pivotal moment in her life, Elizabeth Taylor purchased a grand mansion at 700 Nimes Road in Bel Air for $2 million, roughly $6. 3 million today. The property, originally a California ranch-style house built in 1960, had previously belonged to Nancy Sinatra before being remodeled and expanded by a developer.
For Taylor, the home was more than a residence; it was a fortress against the echoes of her past glories and a place to begin new chapters.
Bel Air, along with Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills, formed the famed Platinum Triangle, a bastion of wealth and prestige. The neighborhood’s appeal lay in its private, expansive estates hidden behind ornate gates, offering a secluded luxury lifestyle. Nimes Road, in particular, provided convenient access to Beverly Hills while retaining a serene privacy.
During its illustrious era, Bel Air was home to legends like Alfred Hitchcock, Judy Garland, and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Taylor’s 7,000-square-foot home sat on 1. 27 acres and featured six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a turquoise swimming pool, a koi pond, and an English rose garden. The interiors, redesigned by Waldo Fernandez in 1984, featured white carpets, impressionist artworks, and a palette of blues and lavenders that mirrored Taylor’s iconic violet eyes.
The home displayed a Van Gogh masterpiece, which later fetched nearly $16 million at auction, alongside works by Matisse, Pissarro, and Renoir.
Despite the grandeur, Taylor’s home was designed to be welcoming. Her biographer noted the surprisingly humble nature of the abode, where guests could relax without fear of damaging priceless art. The trophy room displayed photos of celebrities and royalty, while the private upstairs area was adorned with family photographs.
Personal items like Chanel shoes and childhood ballet slippers added layers of intimacy.
The gardens, designed by Nicholas Walker, were a departure from the typical Bel Air aesthetic. Instead of manicured lawns and exotic plant collections, Taylor’s garden featured an authentic English herbaceous border, a nod to her British roots. It was created with family in mind, hosting annual Easter egg hunts and petting zoos for children.
A bronze sculpture of a calf by Taylor’s daughter, Liza Todd, added a personal touch.
Taylor lived in the home until her death in 2011, a notable contrast to the transitory nature of celebrity real estate. Following her passing, the property was listed for $8. 6 million and sold to Indian entrepreneur Rocky Malhotra, who preserved the original structure.
However, when the property changed hands again in an off-market deal, Los Angeles developer R. Tavangarian revealed plans to demolish the mansion and replace it with a more grandiose edifice. The proposal stirred discontent among fans and preservationists, who feared the destruction of a piece of Hollywood history.
Marion Davies’ Santa Monica Beach House
On the shores of Santa Monica stood a 100-room mansion so grand it seemed to rival the heavens. Known as the Beach House, this opulent estate was the creation of actress Marion Davies and her lover, media mogul William Randolph Hearst. Their love was not just a romance but a creative partnership that birthed this architectural wonder.
Davies, born in 1897, began her career as a chorus girl before catching the eye of Hearst, who pledged to elevate her to stardom. Under his patronage, she graced over 45 films. In 1926, the couple commissioned architect Julia Morgan, known for her work on Hearst Castle, to design their Santa Monica mansion.
Morgan’s blueprint was a masterstroke of elegance, melding a sprawling estate with an intricately designed marble pool.
The mansion, completed in 1929, featured over 100 rooms, tennis courts, guest houses, and a marble swimming pool. The interior was a canvas for Davies’ preferences, adorned with Tiffany chandeliers and treasures from Hearst’s European sojourns. The estate quickly became the epicenter of Hollywood’s high society, hosting the era’s most illustrious figures, including Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, and Clark Gable.
Davies’ costume parties were legendary, and during the Great Depression, she transformed her home into a sanctuary for those in the film industry facing hardship, discreetly offering meals and aid. The Beach House earned the nickname “The Annenberg Community Beach House” decades later, but its original glory was short-lived.
In 1945, Davies sold the property amid a tax dispute. Hotelier Joseph Drown acquired it in 1947 for $600,000, reimagining it as the Ocean House hotel. Despite its opulence, the hotel’s success was fleeting, and the main mansion was demolished in 1956.
The state of California purchased the land in 1960, repurposing it into a parking lot. After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake caused severe damage, the site was abandoned until the Annenberg Foundation intervened in 2005, investing $30 million to create the Annenberg Community Beach House in 2009. Today, only the guest house and main pool remain from the original architecture, serving as reminders of a storied past.
Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood Home
In February 1962, Marilyn Monroe purchased a Spanish colonial-style house in Brentwood for $75,000, roughly $780,000 today. It was the only property she ever owned independently, a personal sanctuary amid the swirling storms of her life. The home, built in 1929, featured adobe walls, red tile roofing, and a kidney-shaped swimming pool.
Monroe had the Latin phrase “Cursum Perficio” (My journey ends here) placed above the front door, an eerie premonition of her fate.
Tragically, Monroe lived in the home for only six months before her death from a drug overdose on August 4, 1962. Following her passing, the property became a beacon for curiosity, receiving at least six purchase offers the day after her death. The Nunn family acquired it in 1963, later auctioning off its contents in 1997.
Over the decades, the home changed hands multiple times. In 2017, Glory of the Snow LLC acquired it for $7. 25 million, and by 2023, ownership transitioned to a trust that sought to demolish the house.
The proposal triggered a passionate public backlash. Los Angeles City Councilmember Tracy Park led the charge to preserve the residence as a Historic Cultural Monument, citing its significance as Monroe’s final home.
Despite opposition from new owners Brin Milstein and Roy Bank, who argued that renovations had stripped the residence of any direct links to Monroe, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously in June 2024 to designate the home a Historic Cultural Monument. The 12-0 vote placed the property among the city’s protected sites. Milstein and Bank, however, pushed forward with legal challenges, with a trial setting conference scheduled for August 2024.
Pickfair: Hollywood’s Royal Palace
In the early 1920s, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, known as the Queen and King of Hollywood, created Pickfair, a 15-acre estate in Beverly Hills. The name was derived from the fusion of their surnames, and the mansion became a symbol of Hollywood’s burgeoning Golden Age. Architect Wallace Neff transformed a Spanish colonial revival dwelling into an awe-inspiring mansion with leaded glass windows, parquet flooring, and celestial-themed murals.
Pickfair was more than a home; it was a cultural phenomenon. The estate featured stables, tennis courts, a western saloon, and what was considered the first in-ground pool in Los Angeles. The living room was adorned with 18th-century art and antiques, and the grounds featured orchards, cypress trees, and fragrant gardens.
The estate hosted dinner parties with guests ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Albert Einstein and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
However, the couple’s divorce in 1936 marked the beginning of the mansion’s decline. Pickford continued to live there with her third husband, Buddy Rogers, but the vibrant social life never resurfaced. After Pickford’s death in 1979, the mansion became vacant.
In the 1980s, Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss acquired it for $5. 4 million and invested in its restoration, hosting fundraisers and infusing the estate with renewed purpose.
In 1988, Israeli tycoon Meshulam Riklis and his wife, actress Pia Zadora, purchased Pickfair for $6. 7 million. On April 22, 1990, much of the mansion was demolished, igniting public backlash.
Zadora cited the mansion’s dilapidated condition and termite infestation, and later claimed the estate was haunted. The demolition severed an invaluable cultural artery, and a new Venetian-style edifice now stands in its place, with only the gates, kidney-shaped pool, and a guest wing remaining from the original estate.
The Garden of Allah Hotel
The Garden of Allah Hotel, originally the estate of silent film star Alla Nazimova, opened its doors in 1927 on Sunset Boulevard. Nazimova, who purchased the property in 1919, transformed it into a salute to her Crimean roots, complete with a black sea-shaped swimming pool. By 1926, she commissioned architect Frank El Molen to convert the estate into a hotel with 25 luxury Spanish-style villas nestled among lush gardens.
The hotel quickly became a bastion of exclusivity, offering Hollywood’s elite a secluded paradise. Its guest list read like a who’s who of 20th-century icons: F. Scott Fitzgerald penned drafts of “The Last Tycoon” there, Errol Flynn turned the hotel into his personal playground, and Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley spearheaded an Algonquin Round Table West.
Igor Stravinsky composed pieces within its walls, and George Gershwin could be found serenading Hollywood royalty in the lobby.
The hotel’s allure began to fade in the 1950s as the glitterati moved to permanent residences in Beverly Hills and modern hotels lured away guests. The Red Scare cast a shadow over its freewheeling ethos. In 1959, Bart Lutton of Lutton Savings and Loan acquired the property with plans to raise it.
Despite a grand farewell party that drew over a thousand mourners, the hotel was demolished in 1960, replaced by the Lutton Savings building.
The building later became a strip mall, and in 2016, the site was designated a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument. In April 2021, the Lutton Savings building was demolished to make way for a proposed development by architect Frank Gehry, which has since stalled. The lot at 8150 Sunset Boulevard now stands vacant, its future uncertain, but the spirit of the Garden of Allah continues to resonate with those who cherish Hollywood’s Golden Era.
Betty White’s Brentwood Home
Betty White and her husband, game show host Allen Ludden, purchased a colonial-style home in Brentwood in 1968. The 3,000-square-foot house, built in the 1950s, sat on three-quarters of an acre and became White’s sanctuary for over five decades. The living room, with its plush sofas and grand fireplace, was a nucleus of warmth and hospitality.
The kitchen, with its classic white cabinetry and central island, was a place for simple rituals and spontaneous gatherings.
The home was a menagerie filled with beloved pets, reflecting White’s deep-seated commitment to animal welfare. After Ludden’s death in 1981, White remained in the home, surrounded by memories of their life together. Her career continued to flourish, with her iconic portrayal of Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls” earning her even more accolades.
Following White’s passing on December 31, 2021, the property was sold in June 2022 for $10. 6 million, with the understanding that the house was destined for demolition. By December 2022, the home had been cleared, leaving only the fireplaces standing.
Proceeds from the sale were directed toward animal welfare causes, including a $150,000 donation to the Morris Animal Foundation. A piece of White’s history found new life when comedian Chelsea Handler purchased the home’s bright yellow front door, ensuring a fragment of the beloved actress’s personal history would continue to brighten another threshold.
As the bulldozers claimed these iconic homes, they erased more than bricks and mortar. They dismantled tangible links to an era when Hollywood’s queens reigned supreme, leaving behind only memories and the enduring legacy of the women who once called these mansions home.