#celebrity-homes

#celebrity-homes

For many in these animal-friendly open doors, the inclusion of a creature or two is indicative of the overall attitude of their home: They live in family spaces that are ready to absorb whatever damage kids or animals might throw at it. For others, animals might be confined to a certain space, allowing investment furniture pieces to escape unscathed from any unwanted scratch marks or stains.

Twelve weeks after coming on the market, the Surrey house used to portray the home of actress Maggie Smith's character, Lady Violet Crawley, found a buyer and recently closed along with several adjacent properties for nearly $9 million. Known as Dower House on the TV series, it was built around 1686.

Smathers' style is evidenced by high ceilings, terrace balconies and formal areas designed for small and large-scale entertaining. Hedged privacy walls and eucalyptus trees, landscaped grounds feature a brick-lined patio, an outdoor dining room, a swimming pool and formal gardens.

With its five-story living room, 200 tons of stonework, soaring redwood beams and five-foot-thick, 14-foot-high, 2,000-pound front door, the triangular temple is still spectacular. Which is not to say that the former playboy's paradise has been turned into anything resembling a traditional home.

The actor commissioned local architect William Kesling to build the retreat close to the studios so he could go there during filming. The Streamline Moderne design, with exterior horizontal "speed lines" and wing-like pergola gates, reflects Beery's love of aircraft and flying.

There wasn't anything particularly inviting to the eye. It was a de facto pool house and held most of our storage. Things just started to spill out, the pingpong table was covered with clothes and boxes, the fake Christmas tree was sitting in front of a bookshelf. What was once a sanctuary became a way station. We needed some help.

In the 1920s and 1930s, however, this mansion was also well-known to any devoted movie fan in America. For several years following World War I, four movie celebrities lived in the house, one after another. The first of these was the mysterious Theda Bara, the product of one of Hollywood's first high-pressure public relations campaigns.

Known as the Fields House, the Regency-style home was designed by noted architect Craig Ellwood and built in 1957 as part of the Case Study program. Greenberg, who starred for the Detroit Tigers during the 1930s and '40s, bought the house in 1974 for $258,000 and was its third owner.