Tuesday, November 18, 2008

CCH Pounder Lists West Adams Mini-Manse

SELLER: CCH Pounder
LOCATION: 10th Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $1,250,000
SIZE: 3,284 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: The home has a center hall plan with large open rooms to entertain. Living room with fireplace and large family/den with glass doors open to a deck and lush garden. Large master suite with private bath. Quality custom cook's kitchen.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: As we like to do when we have nothing better to do, Your Mama was recently perusing random real estate listings and came across an attractive house in the historic West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. As we poured over the pictures, we started to feel that inner vibration that sweeps through our innards that tells us we are peering into the home of a celebrity.

A wee bit of research on the interweb and, as we suspected, we discovered that the walled and gated residence on 10th Street is currently owned by noted television actress CCH Pounder and her Senegalese anthropologist huzband who have listed their 3,284 square foot tropical looking terra cotta colored center hall traditional with an asking price of $1,250,000.

Born in Guyana and educated in Britain, the dignified and cultured Miz Pounder has an impressive resume as long as Your Mama's pile of empty gin bottles is high and has been nominated for three prime time Emmys and eight Image Awards. (Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.) The classically trained Miz Pounder currently plies her craft on The Shield as Detective Claudette Wyms and as Carolyn Maddox on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as well as working her stuff in four additional projects, including the upcoming James Cameron 3-D sci-fi extravaganza Avatar. This beehawtcha must be so damn bizzy, just thinking about her crazy schedule makes Your Mama need a nerve pill.

Property records show that Mister and Missus Pounder's residence was built in 1915, and was purchased by the couple in October of 2004 for $602,000. The property sits in the West Adams Terrace Historic Preservation Overlay Zone which means that any alterations to the exterior of the property are subject to review by the HPOZ board to ensure the changes maintain the character of the neighborhood. We're sure some of you think that's a bothersome load of crap, but for those folks who appreciate maintaining a semblance and shred of architectural history it's worth the hoop jumping. For those not overly familiar with the less vaunted and little cooed over areas of Los Angeles, the West Adams Terrace neighborhood is a sliver of Los Angeles that abuts the Santa Monica Freeway about 2 miles directly south of the hoity toity Hancock Park neighborhood.

Listing information for the two story house reveals there are three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, which means that either guests gotta schlep their big backsides upstairs to sit on a terlit or that all the upstairs bedrooms share just one terlit, a situation that will unnerve guests and/or home owners who prefer to poop in private.

Anyhoo, it appears the center hall entrance runs a glorious straight line from the front all the way to the back where it opens into the heavily vegetated back yard. A large corner living room features a fireplace and a couple of lovely looking steel blue velveteen chesterfields. The dining room has been done over in a shade of celadon with an antique glass chandelier hung much too high and a hand painted ceiling that, while not our cup of decorative tea, looks like it might be sort of interesting.

We don't see much of the kitchen in the listing photographs, but the cabinets appear to be painted green (which could be really good if done right) and we can clearly see that Miz Pounder has unwisely hung a pot rack above the stove. Oh lawhd children, how much does Your Mama hate a pot rack. Yes, the maid and all the guests will be suitably impressed with the expensive and gleaming copper pot collection, but imagine how greasy and grimy those things get when something is actually cooked on that stove. Also, note to someone: You might want to remove the damn coffee pot before taking the photos next time because no one is impressed with a twelve dollar Mister Coffee from the local Rite-Aid.

The bedroom, as well as the rest of the house, has beauteous chocolate brown flooring and a fantastic four poster bed with intricately and exquisitely turned posts and spindles. We never care for beds placed catty-corner to the room, but would we could, Your Mama would try our darnedest to squirrel this bed frame out in our handbag if we were ever to be so lucky to be guests in this home. Again, note to someone: You might have taken the extra 30 seconds to move that bedside printer out of the frame and push that blue storage box under the bed out of view because, pleeze, let's be honest, in this market, you really do have to put your best real estate foot forward for your clients.

All that said, this is clearly the home of thinking people who understand the importance and value of having actual books in the home (see them under the window in the living room?) and who obviously have a sincere relationship with the artwork they choose to purchase and display. We may not like all Miz Pounder's decorative choices, and we may worry about the amount of time it would take our bossy housegurl Svetlana to dust all that stuff, but this is without a doubt a home that expresses a cultured, considered and deeply personal point of view and for that we applaud her (and the huzband too).

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love it...especially after viewing Paul Haggiss' $2 million pile of crap...this house is gorgeous!

TonyV said...

Mama, I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw that coffee pot too! And it's full, no less! That photographer is not the greatest. Also, this house was on a recent episode of HGTV's Landscaper's challenge. CCH comes across as super nice and thoughtful. Traits not always found in busy Hollywood types, for sure! :-)

pch said...

Old school Los Angeles. Dig it. Too bad it looks like it's only three houses from the 10 freeway.

West Adams has some incredible architecture, and would be astounding if the whole district were restored to original spec. You have some really nice blocks, but it's still patchy, and with prices settling down there's not as much incentive to restore the houses that haven't yet been done. (Many are way past the sprucing up stage, they're imploding, literally, or derelict.) Meaning that, from an investment perspective, I would hesitate to pay a premium for one of the nicer houses in the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

She was on The Tavis Smiley show last week and did come across as very thoughtful, intelligent and without any of the Hollywood BS.
Love the floors and landscaping. The bed is DIVINE!

Anonymous said...

Nic Cage just dropped the price of his bel air estate to $24,950,000! Looks like someone might be having money problems, why else would he be on such a selling spree???

Anonymous said...

tonyv--I knew I had seen her house on one of the HGTV shows...now I remember it clearly--part of their plan was to have a place for hubby to smoke cigars, wasnt it?

I like the curbside, classic and unpretentious. The interior is very personal, but the only really bad thing I could note is that from this camera angle, whatever faux paint is going on on the dining room ceiling looks like a bad case of mold.

Anonymous said...

Ok...so I may be from New Zealand, but even I know that sheepskin rug should have been hidden in the back of the hall cupboard with the printer, blue box and coffee pot.

Anonymous said...

I would 86 the pot rack and have an interesting mural painted on the wall - something nice to look at while cooking. Glass mosaic tiles would look cool too.

Great colors, nice yard, and AWESOME antiques!

ditto on the above mentions of the coffee pot

Meg said...

Given her work load, she probably barely has time to eat, much less cook. The coffee maker sitting awkwardly on the counter makes for a strange-ish picture. And that is kind of a peculiar moldy painted... thing on the dining room ceiling. Still, it looks like a house that belongs to a real person (albeit one who clearly doesn't cook).

Anonymous said...

I think that's called a Jenny Lind bed. The photo of the kitchen looks like an advertisement for the coffee maker. Weird.

Anonymous said...

its cool. i loved it!

Anonymous said...

$1,250,000 to live in Fort Apache the Bronx. Hmmmm. Let me think. Um, no. Dusting the knickknacks is the least of your worries. Where your vest is has top priority. Whatever happened to "location is everything." TWO MILES south of Hancock Park? That's five worlds away. Getting worse every block south. Am I missing something?

Alessandra said...

The time to buy in West Adams was about ten years ago, when that house was probably about $350k. I agree with PCH that the area has some blocks with beautiful architecture and some blocks with derelict homes that are beyond preserving. However, I have a special place in my heart for home owners who buy in transitional neighborhoods and do preserve architecture like this.

I like her home, I wish her and her husband good luck with the sale. I'm not sure she'll get her exact price but I think she'll get close to it. West Adams has some advantages for being close to downtown LA and USC. I could see this property being snatched up by a USC prof.

Anonymous said...

Love, love, love the house. Her neighbors are good family people, not speculators and although 10h Ave gets a little traffic, it's not on the grimy side of the 10. I sold my bungalow on 7th Ave just a year ago and the 'hood was definitely MUCH better than it was in 1999

Anonymous said...

Need a shotgun and some pit-bulls to live in the hood where this is located........

Anonymous said...

Mama, please help!

I am jonesing (sp?) for a new post.

Please don't make me turn to the street. They cut their posts with junk in order to get more bang for the buck!

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:46 PM:

Google "Willard Intercontinental" and check out the Jenny Lind suite.

Although I only live 30 minutes away from the Willard, it is my favorite hotel to "getaway" to.

The Jenny Lind suite is great for a romantic weekend.

The Oval Suites are great for parties and entertaining.

The Jenny Lind Suite is so personal. The bedroom and bathroom are to die for and make you never want to check out.

The Oval Suites? Well, with the period furniture and oval living room, it makes you feel important. You can pretend to be the president.

Parker said...

While the decor is not my style, the house is beautiful and I do admire those who move to West Adams to renovate those houses. The HPOZ can be so difficult to deal with but the results are rewarding and the homes do need protection from those who want to build horrid McMansions.

I wonder to where she is moving? I would guess moving 'up' to Hancock Park where she can buy another house protected by HPOZ. Same style, better neighborhood. I have friends in West Adams and I love the pride they take in their neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

I really dig this groovy pad, I be liking it... ZOOOOOOOOOM

Anonymous said...

I don't like the decor at all. But I do like it that the owner(s) made it so personal! Not at all bland and boring - you wouldn't mistake this for anyone else's house, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

The color of the house is ugly and the landscaping is schizo, plus it's in the ghetto (let's be honest here). But the architecture is nice, the wood floors are beautiful and West Adams may yet see a revival, though this is still quite high for the area and only 3 bedrooms.

Anonymous said...

There is plenty for sale in Hancock Park///////if anybody wants to be in a better area then West Adams....

Anonymous said...

How close is this place to the Six Feet Under house?