Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Dan Castellaneta Double Whammy II


BUYER: Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta
LOCATION: Pacific Palisades, CA
PRICE: $5,700,000
SIZE: 5 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: We were first alerted to the Castellaneta-Lacusta's latest real estate acquisition by The Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Address Aerial. We next consulted a wise oracle in the chit-chatty celebrity real estate gossip grapevine, let's call her Chatty Cathy, who whispered to Your Mama that Mister Castellaneta and Miz Lacusta found their new home, a glassy contemporary just a few blocks away from their Colcord crib, by attending an open house.

Property records show the couple closed on the property in late April 2011, paying $5,700,000 for the multi-winged single-story sprawler that includes a 4 bedroom main house plus a 1 bedroom guest house and a total of 4.5 bathrooms.

Like many of the large homes in the hoity-toity 'hood, the Castellanetta-Lacusta's new digs are hidden behind thick foliage and electronically-controlled gates. The double-gated circular driveway rises to a cramped-looking motor court with three car garage points the way to the front entry. A wide stone stair and walkway connects the motor court to the front door. Inside smooth wood floors–they look like white oak to Your Mama but may very well be some other type of wood–spread out through the main living spaces that include a casual "formal" living room with sky-lit ceiling and flat-screen tee-vee built into a wood wall panel. The formal dining room, separated from the entry by a trio of floating panels fitted with opaque ribbed glass, has a wall of floor to ceiling windows and another full wall of sleek cabinetry with both open and closed storage and display areas.

Another trio of floating panels fitted with opaque ribbed glass separate the dining room from the L-shaped open plan family area of the house that includes a high-ceilinged family/dining area with stone and stainless steel fireplace flanked by a massive built-in entertainment cabinet with open and closet storage and display space. We could do without the stainless steel detail above the fireplace. We'd much prefer to set all that crisp and clean modernism with a heavily saturated and perhaps sinister photograph like, say, one of artist Gregory Crewdson's thickly detailed and cinematic but uncomfortably bleak pictures. Just a thought. Anyhoo, at opposite ends of the room walls of glass slide open, one end of the room spills out to a covered dining terrace that overlooks the flat lawn and motor court at the front of the house and the other opens to marry the room to the courtyard-like backyard.

The angular kitchen has both stainless steel and smooth flat-fronted wood cabinetry, a massive center island with breakfast bar, sea foam green glass back splash and top-grade commercial-style appliances that include a Mercedes-sized range with six burners and a damn griddle. A full wall of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors merges the kitchen with the backyard.

A dark-bottomed rectangular swimming pool with narrow sunbathing terrace anchors the extreme rear of the property. A small piazza-like space with built in barbecue and outdoor fireplace both separates and joins the main house to the detached one-bedroom guest house adjacent to and situated just higher than the swimming pool.

Mister Castellaneta and Miz Lacusta's new neighbors include a number of very high-profile peeps. Retired boxer Sugar Ray Leonard owns the house next door, much awarded comedienne/actor/gab-fest hostess Whoopi Goldberg owns a large house around the corner as does increasing mouthy and opinionated comedian Bill Cosby and the massive resort-hotel style hillside compound of Hollywood super-heavyweight Steven Spielberg is directly across the street.

listing photos (new house, bottom): Prudential California / Brentwood

15 comments:

Suzy said...

Beam me up, Scotty.

lil' gay boy said...

A definite come down from the previous digs; but I can certainly empathize with the desire for MCM digs.

As lovely and well-provenanced as their "mock" Tudor is, that kind of rigorous loveliness can wrack the last nerve after a spell. Personally, I prefer a colder, wetter climate for the Tudor style as a whole; relentless sunshine deprives one of the coziness a Tudor can impart ––– something even the most sophisticated and artful Hollywood landscaping cannot remedy ––– this lil' gay boy has to feel it in his bones, so to speak...

;-)

Speaking of bones, although this is a generously detailed MCM, good bones is what it lacks (along with the lousy mid-block siting, the ho-hum landscaping, and the overall layout).

While there are quality materials here, there's no getting around dining in a driveway, for Christ's sake. The neighbors crowd the lot, and the "light scoop" (skylight, my ass) over the casual/formal living area speaks of afterthought. Even the bijou pool/guest house would be nicer as the main living area ––– if it weren't for the fact that the neighbor's tennis court butts up against the hedge.

Throw in the uptight neighborhood and we have, once again (and to Snowman's continuing amusement), an obvious teardown.

Anonymous said...

Dear your mama, can we puuhhleasee get a post about the new broads on The real housewives of New Jersey. There has to be some real estate skeletons in their closets. I would love to know the location of Melissa Gorgas 15,000 sqfoot "mansion"... i bet it boarders a highway like Theresas.

Anonymous said...

I can't say I like mock-Tudor in La La Land, but I prefer the innards of the old house better than the new.

Anonymous said...

How did they find the new house?

StPaulSnowman said...

As usual, my sibling LGB is spot on the money. All California Tudors should be moved somewhere with an authentic Autumn. They simply fail in sunny climes. How many would you expect to see in the South of France? Americans want what they want......where they want them, often ignoring the Genius of Place for residential architecture. Tudor + Yucca= yuck. Of course, at these prices, owners could afford to have fall leaves trucked in and sprinkled about the vast paver "motorcourts" which invariably front these homes. Now I must start planning my Minnesota Mediterranean Mansion with the single-pooper igloo out back for guests...............

FonHom said...

D'oh!

Anonymous said...

Not bad for a young actor who, while slaving away on the sublime Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, just happened to supply voices for the little Simpsons cartoon interludes, thereby unknowingly backing his posterior into a vast pot of leprechaun's gold. Rarely has being in the right place at the right time turned out so lucrative.

I miss the Francesca skits, particularly the one where her two Dads try to get accepted by the board of an exclusive NYC co-op.

luke220 said...

This is a beautiful house. Here is the property website. http://www.amalfi1520.com/ Quite a change from their old house.

Their previous house is the teardown- too small for the lot with terrible kitchen and baths.

lil' gay boy said...

Luke [I am NOT your father] 220, we almost always agree, or at least empathize on, nearly every architectural style; I am puzzled as to what exactly causes us to differ so on this one?

After examining the website (thanks for that) I can see much more clearly that the so-called family/dining complex is a later addition to the house, and a very unsuccessful one at that. Not only does it awkwardly break up the miserly lot, but it certainly explains that nasty light scoop as well (just a pet peeve ––– reminds me of every Dickensian description of a jail cell window placed too high to see out of, except for that woe-some patch of sky).

A quick look at the bird's eye view shows how badly this house's program utilizes the lot; behind a privacy hedge & gate, the front half is treated as a stage for the house, rather than much-desired (and in pricey Riviera ranch) necessary outdoor living space.

Rather than expanding the original "I" plan to a stubby "T" plan, the owners would have done much better by going with an "L" plan, much like my beloved FLLW's 1st Jacobs' House, the original Usonian. Just think of the lovely, large yard you could have by turning the back of the house to the very private street...

Just an aside ––– with that wealth of top-quality materials, why did the kitchen turn out to be the medical examiner's version of turnkey ––– autopsy-ready?

Rosco Mare said...

Luke220:
Thanks for the link.

I like what appears to be teakwood through out the house, and I can see flashes of elegance here and there. However, the property looks like a sophisticated corporate conference center. Tudor is not my thing, but I would have kept the well-executed Colcord house and waited for a better MCM to come along.

Anonymous said...

This looks like the house from the episode entitled "Perfect House" from the now-defunct NBC sitcom "Perfect Couples" that Dave and Vance were trying to sell.

Anonymous said...

The Simpsons ran out of ideas some time ago, but it still just keeps rolling along. There have been a few good shows recently but not many. One thing I would like to see is the reappearance of Rainier Wolfcastle. That would be topical and might even be funny. See;
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Rainier_Wolfcastle

commentator8 said...

That Spielberg gated community across the street is insane.

Sugar Ray's place next door is well sited, and the play equipment on the vast lawn is charming.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't everyone in Hollywood butt up againist the hedge?