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The Hopes commissioned Robert Finkelhor, an authority on Period Revival styles, to build their beloved English traditional house on a former walnut grove in 1939. It was later remodeled “in a more contemporary style” in the 1950s by architect John Elgin Woolf, who also designed homes for Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Ricardo Montalban and Katharine Hepburn.
The longtime Toluca Lake estate of late comic actor Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, has come to market for $27.5 million.
The estate grew considerably over the years as the Hopes acquired surrounding properties, and it now consists of a total of four parcels totaling 5.16 acres, reports the Los Angeles Times. A main house of 14,876 square feet, as well as a two-bedroom guest house, a two-bedroom staff quarters, and additional offices can all be found on the storied compound.
Leading through a reception area, the home opens to a handsome foyer with hardwood flooring and a curving spiral staircase. Interior amenities include an office, a billiards room, a chef’s kitchen and a formal living room lined in floor-to-ceiling glass that looks onto a post-and-beam patio and grounds. The upstairs houses four bedroom suites, including a master wing with his and her bedrooms, baths, closets and a shared study. Outside, the home rounds out with sports facilities, including a one-hole golf course, a pair of pools, one indoor and one outdoor, numerous patios and a massive stone motor court.
The Hope estate became something of a Toluca Lake landmark over the years, thanks to “its celebrity owners and for doling out the best Halloween loot, from full-size candy bars to silver dollars, and for a larger-than-life nativity scene displayed at Christmas.” Memorabilia seekers were able to buy many of the Hopes’ holiday decorations, as well as furniture and other household items, at a garage sale in December.
Bob Hope lived at the property from 1939 up until his passing in 2003. Dolores Hope passed away in 2011. The Toluca Lake estate represents the last of Hope’s impressive real estate portfolio to come to market since his wife’s passing. In December 2012, a pair of Palm Springs properties owned by the late couple listed for $659,000 and $469,000.
Those homes, while charming, paled in comparison to the Hopes’ John Lautner-designed home, which was offered in March as a pocket listing for a whopping $50 million. Overlooking Coachella Valley, the 23,000-square-foot-plus property was designed by Lautner in 1973 to resemble a volcano, and has long since earned icon status in the midcentury modern hotbed that is Palm Springs. It reportedly sold in less than one month.
Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker and Drew Fenton of Hilton & Hyland are the listing agents.
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