This Old Hollywood home was built in just 10 weeks for Hollywood legend Jean Harlow.
Dating to 1932 and designed by architect C.B. Klyne, the red brick, gated residence at 214 S Beverly Glen Road in Holmby Hills is now on the market for $16.8 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Harlow looks happy enough in photographs taken of her at the home, which she filled with antiques, mink headboards and ermine-covered toilet seats, according to David Bret’s 2009 biography, “Jean Harlow: Fallen Angel.”
Tragically, Harlow didn’t live long enough to enjoy it. She died in her 26th year, in 1937, of kidney failure.
In her short life, Harlow appeared in around 36 films — including Laurel and Hardy shorts — before her break out role in “Hell’s Angels.” In the Howard Hughes-produced film, she famously says: “Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?”
Harlow also starred in “The Public Enemy” with James Cagney and in “Red Dust” — one of six films she made with Clark Gable; she was also capable of comedy, as shown in “Dinner at Eight,” and the satire, “Bombshell.” When she died, thousands of people mobbed the cemetery, and Hollywood studios shut down so stars like Clark Gable and Myrna Loy could attend her funeral.
Photos of the original blond bombshell posing in the house — leaning against a marble mantle, and posing with friends by the barbecue, and on her own by the pool — remain.
There’s a chance that some of the photographs of Harlow in the property could also be part of the sale.
The home also features Harlow’s initials in wrought iron on the balcony over the front door, listing broker David Kramer, of Compass, told Gimme Shelter. He added that the sellers also found wallpaper with her image when they were remodeling, “cut it out, and made a poster of it.”
But the history of violence that she suffered — as described in Bret’s biography — is less well known. Bret described how Harlow was beaten by her stepfather who demanded money and more, and threatened to release pornographic photos taken of her as a teenager; her second husband allegedly brutally beat her with a walking stick on her wedding night.
The four-bedroom, American Colonial Revival-style home is 7,367 square feet and sits on 1.32 acres.
Inside, it is filled with original details, from boiserie paneling to crown moldings and marble fireplaces. There’s even a hidden Prohibition-era bar, and a library with original arched, built-in bookcases. Even the pool comes with its original diving board.
A grand foyer opens to a grand staircase, arched entries and elegant chandeliers. The main bedroom boasts a fireplace and sitting area along with two baths and walk-in closets. There’s also a glass conservatory that leads to the gardens, which include mature magnolia trees.
The home has been in the same family for almost 50 years, since the late Herman and Marsha Jacobs bought it for around $1.1 million in 1979, the Journal reported.
Under their ownership, the home was renovated, preserved and expanded to create a larger chef’s kitchen — still with some original 1930s details, like a walk-in refrigerator — a temperature-controlled wine cellar and a two-story pool house with a balcony and French doors. That’s all along with a new tennis court, a koi pond and two greenhouses.
Even without its provenance, the home, Kramer said, is special.
“It’s one of the best examples of Old Hollywood that I have ever seen,” Kramer said. “We see a lot of older homes, but there is something regal about this house that you don’t often see.”
“So far,” he added, “the response has been very good. By it’s very nature, it’s just a great house. It has has this grandeur that is really special.”
