Desert History for Sale

This Palm Springs estate was built in the 1950s by movie mogul Jack L. Warner as an entertainment compound capable of hosting 300 weekend guests. The 8,179-square-foot property on 1.38 acres features a main house, three guest houses, and a chauffeur's apartment. Author-screenwriter Steve Shagan and his wife Betty purchased the estate in 1989 from Warner's widow Ann and recently completed a two-year renovation. The compound includes luxurious details such as bronze Pharaoh-head door knobs, a bronze Bacchus fountain by designer Billy Haines, hand-painted mural wallpaper, and French imported wallpaper. Located in Palm Springs' Old Las Palmas neighborhood behind 6-foot walls, the property is now listed at $3.2 million as the owners seek to downsize.

"Built in the '50s by Warner, the compound recently underwent a two-year renovation, but now the Shagans, who have a New York apartment, want to downsize. They bought the Palm Springs estate in 1989 from Warner's widow, Ann, who died a year later. The studio chief died at 86 in 1978."

"The 8,179-square-foot compound, on 1.38 acres, was big enough for Warner to entertain 300 weekend guests. The courtyard has enough room for a limo to maneuver. The estate, behind 6-foot walls, has a main house, a guest house by the pool, one where Shagan writes, and another for the caretaker."

"The home comes with bronze Pharaoh-head door knobs and a bronze Bacchus fountain designed by decorator-to-the-stars Billy Haines. The compound also has 200-year-old hand-painted mural wallpaper in the entrance and living room and wallpaper imported from France in the guest house/writing studio."

Read at Los Angeles Times