Monday, February 4, 2013

UPDATE: Peter Morton and Elvis Presley

Last week Your Mama spilled the real estate beans about former restaurateur and hotelier Peter Morton dropping nearly ten million clams to buy a French Regency meets mid-century modern style house in the once again super-swank, coveted and increasingly pricey Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills (CA) that, in the late 1960s, was the west coast home of newlyweds Elvis and Priscilla Presley.

At the time Your Mama heard from two separate sources that Mister Morton planned to tear the house down and replace it with something larger and more modern but the ever-clever kids at Curbed have subsequently reported that the property's provenance—it was not only owned by Elvis Presley but originally designed by too-littled lauded master architect Rex Lotery—and a recently adopted preservation ordinance in Bev Hills may in fact prevent Mister Morton from tearing the existing residence down.

Your Mama recognizes that none of this to raze or not to raze bizness will matter much to most folks in places like Peoria and Timbuktu but we've come to understand from our more architecturally inclined confreres that his has become an eminently watchable real estate soap opera with dedicated architecture preservationists in Los Angeles and beyond.

listing photo: Coldwell Banker

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank the lord that Los Angeles is finally saving some of it's architecture.
I love this house. I would love to see the interiors. I bet it has a great view.

Carla Ridge said...

Mama, one of the commenters at Curbed made this thoughtful observation which i'd like to share here:

"This situation provided a test case of some of the provisions in the new BH Preservation Ordinance, and it worked pretty much as it should. Word got out, The 'threat' was assessed, the cultural relevance discussed, researched. The architectural provenance of the property was established according to the guidelines in the measure. None of this represents any kind of strait-jacket against the owner, just a protection against the wholesale razing of the property, as has been done in the past.

For those...who claim it's 'not a Lotery', etc. If you visit the house you can see his touches all the way through, the plan is VERY modern, despite the neo-Regency front. Clerestories abound, one of his trademarks. The organization isn't as Wright-angled as you're used to seeing from him, but it's there.

For those...contesting the Presley residency as cultural marker -- the years 1967 through 1973 were in fact a busy part of 'The King's' career and personal life and there are movies, albums and tours to document that. But the thing that most clearly signifies the importance of THIS particular of his homes, is the brick wall and man-gate that have been lovingly inscribed by fans from around the world, with personal messages FOR DECADES. Its an undeniable piece of LA entertainment history, denigrate it all you want, but people continue to get on tour buses to this day to see the house and the surroundings. I don't know any other house in LA where this has been maintained. Even if the house itself WERE radically altered, i'd hope the City of BH would compel the owner to agree to keep the perimiter as it has come to be known. THAT is creative preservation.

Again, we don't know what Peter Morton's plans or vision actually are at this point. I think he'd benefit a lot from a minor restoral and update, if his goal is just to re-sell. The house can't be made much bigger, and it's not derelict. If there is any appeal in marketing the former "Elvis Presley" estate, i'd think you'd want to just clear up some of the 'Four Seasons' look of the recent re-do and bring back a little more of its Sixties Swank. Why fight what works?"

And THANK YOU for sounding the clarion call on this one, Mama! You were the first source for many of us on this.

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness for the preservationists!! This made my Monday!

Anonymous said...

Of course he's tearing it down just like the house he bought in Bel Air.

This place is ugly and Elvis lived here for a couple years decades ago. Burn it to the gound!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Anon 101:

How on EARTH would the destruction of this place benefit YOU? Your delight at decimation is childish.

Anonymous said...

peep the inside here::

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151124677904580.452256.325296184579&type=1

Doug said...

Thanks for the 411 on this, Carla. I'm happy to hear that this house might survive. It may seem funny to care about a house that Elvis occupied for a few years, but I do. Not enough people in LA care about history and it would be sad to lose part of this period to satisfy the whims of one wealthy individual.

Anonymous said...


hey, hey, now stay offa my
French Regency views...

Stone Restoration said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

This property needs to be saved for ever. I will boycott the Hard Rock Cafe and urge all Elvis fans to do the same if Elvis' home is torn down. How can a person who made their fortune on Rock and Roll destroy something that was owned by the creator of Rock and Roll?