Monday, June 20, 2011

Doctor Razes Presley's Pad in Horsey Hidden Hills

Rock-n-roll heiress Lisa Marie Presley–only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla and ex-wife of both Nic Cage and Michael Jackson–sold her compound in the upscale guard-gated community of Hidden Hills, CA in November 2010 for $5,000,000. The new owner, a Los Angeles-based physician, apparently had little use for Miz Presley's 8,000-ish square foot mansion and its multiple outbuildings. Thanks to a snap-happy snitch we'll call Heidi Hidesoutinhiddenhills the good doctor razed LMP's mansion and much of the landscaping that once surrounded it in order to make way for his own–no doubt steroidal–version of Barbie's Dream House.

Not long before she sold her house in Hidden Hills, Princess Presley and her fourth husband, music producer Michael Lockwood, plus their young twins and her two young-adult-aged kids from her first marriage to musician Danny Keough, decamped for the U.K. The blended family reportedly settled into the humongous and historic Coes Hall, a sprawling estate in East Sussex very near a somewhat (in)famous estate called Saint Hill Manor, which happens to be Britain's Scientology headquarters.

Of no particular relevance to this discussion but fascinating none the less is that Mister Keough served as the best man at LMP's nuptials to her current husband. That children, is so damn civilized and modern that we just can't stand it. Truly. Our point of view on the matter might seem odd to some but it is deeply informed by the friendly nature of our own blended family in which the children of Your Mama's Big Daddy's third wife–that would be our step-momma's children from a previous betrothal–used to spend a week every summer at the beach with Your Mama's Momma who was Big Daddy's first wife. Does that make sense, bunnies? 'Tis true.

Anyhoodles poodles, property records and previous reports reveal that the formidable but low-key (and wildly wealthy) Miss Presley paid $2,600,000 for her horsey Hidden Hills compound back in December 1993 when she was a dewy lass in her mid-twenties with the same swarthy and smoldering visage of her famous father. At the same time she bought the compound she paid another $625,000 for the adjacent property, a thickly-treed 1.47 acre parcel with a 2,842 square foot house tucked down a long drive at the back of the property that butts up to the Ahmanson Ranch. It's widely reported that Miz Presley's first hubby, Danny Keough, occupied the property in order that both parents could remain a constant presence in their childrens' lives.

Miz Presley first got ants in her real estate pants sometime before October 2009 when she officially listed her 3.07-acre equestrian compound with an optimistic asking price of $8,995,000. The property was de- and re-listed several times and by July 2010 the price tag had plummeted to $6,995,000.

The property encompassed a main residence with 5 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms in about 8,000 square feet of interior space, a one bedroom guest house and a recreational annex with recording studio. A three-stall barn had an attached bedroom and pooper perfect for a beau-hunky live-in groomsman. The grounds, before they were scraped up by the present owner (see photo above), had broad rolling lawns with mature shade trees, an orchard, several outdoor entertaining areas, and a free-form swimming pool and spa with a water slide that swooshes through an imposing pile of boulders. Iffin we're being honest, and we always are, we have no idea if the new owner kept of demolished the swimming pool area.

At the same time she listed her compound she put the house next door–where Mister Keough lived–on the block with an also optimistic asking price of $1,995,000. As mentioned above, Miz Presley sold her compound to a SoCal healerman for five million clams and property records show she sold Mister Keough's crib in February 2011 for $1,200,000.

Other residents/property owners of the Hidden Hills include Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Melissa Etheridge and her ex-wife Tammy Lynn Michaels, David Boreanaz, Nicolette Sheridan, former tween and pre-tween heart throb Shaun Cassidy, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and back in the saddle pop phenom Britney Spears who recently leased a resort-like estate inside the gates of Hidden Hills that includes a 19,107 square foot mansion with 10 bedrooms and an unlucky 13 dirty business cans. Hidden Hills is also the family seat of the Kardashian clan.

Coes Hall, where Miz Presley and family may or may not currently reside –we really have no idea if they've maintained their expat status or scrambled back to the good ol' U.S. of A.–includes a substantial updated mansion with sections that date back to the 15th-century. The residence contains 11 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, 9 receptions rooms, a state of the art sound system and a cinema while the expansive and bucolic grounds offer a tennis court, a swimming pool complex with spa, parterre gardens, paddocks for the ponies and a private lake.

photo: Heidi Hidesoutinhiddenhills

6 comments:

lil' gay boy said...

"...Mister Keough served as the best man at LMP's nuptials to her current husband. That children, is so damn civilized and modern that we just can't stand it."

Always a hoot, Mama! But then I'm no stranger to familial shenanigans either since my dear BGD's fourth marriage was to his second cousin shortly before our 15th anniversary (hand to God, chillrun).

=8-O

Considering the microscope the somewhat reclusive spawn of Elvis grew up under, it seems to me that despite four marriages, she turned out NOT to be a flaming white hot mess (leaving out her brief foray into insanity as the "wife" of the dearly departed White Lady.)

Architecturally insignificant and uninspired, I am nonetheless still somewhat surprised at this teardown. Even in a good economy a $5MM demolition in Hot-As-Hell Hidden Hills can still raise my eyebrows (despite the botox) ––– even the most bottomless-pocketed pre-pubescent billionaire's daughter cannot be that obsessed with the equestrian lifestyle ––– there's gotta be more to this backstory.

The proximity to the storied Ahmanson Ranch cannot explain (even if there's a Gwathmey+Siegel tour-de-force masterpiece in the wings) is simply not enough to justify a multi-million dollar teardown.

Anonymous said...

Actually it is no longer Coes Hill but rather a redoing of the older house. Here is the description:
"Former farmhouse, now house, of late C16 and early C17 date, probably re-roofed in the C18. Restored and refenestrated in the 1990s. The attached 1990s structures to the north west and early C21 extension to the east are not of special interest."
You can see an aerial view on Google Earth. The place seems very spread out, by no means a great country house, but it does have a tennis court. I didn't see anything that looked like a swimming pool, but perhaps it is under a roof of some sort.

Anonymous said...

Lisa Marie seems quite a piece of work. Her Wiki bio indicates no schooling at all, certainly no university. Heiress to the Presley fortune most of which she sold off in 2005. Married to Michael Jackson and Nic Cage, the latter marriage taking longer to dissolve than did the marriage itself (108 days). Has done good works, evidently, not a bad person, but a seemingly chaotic life. One hopes she has been happy in contrast to her father.

Anonymous said...

Well, I mean, does someone know what prime land (and I'm presuming this was prime) goes for in Hidden Hills?
Maybe, even with the structures, this wasn't that far off the mark.
But more interestingly, I thought Lisa Marie was the sole heir to the Presley fortune. Doesn't she have huge cash flow from all the various Elvis generators? Why would she be living in a house that was expendable?
Have to say in interviews she comes off as quite odd. No, or low affect, as they say -- at least for public consumption. If she has charm, then it's directed elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Probably nothing to it, but I see Lisa's homes looking much like Graceland. Maybe this is why the buyers thought they needed to just tear everything down and start all over.

Trixie von Trott said...

If only I could've been a fly on the wall during her marriage to the Gloved One. What a hoot those two must've been.

Can you imagine them sitting around the breakfast table, MJ all Propofol-ed up and Lisa sucking down a double wide G&T?