Kirstie Alley’s a long way from that Boston bar
Published 1:30 am Saturday, December 15, 2018
By Neal J. Leitereg and Jack Flemming / Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Actress Kirstie Alley, who finished as a runner-up on the latest season of the reality show “Celebrity Big Brother,” is ready to leave another house behind. She’s put her longtime home in the LA neighborhood of Los Feliz on the market for $11.97 million.
The Italianate villa-style home was built for restaurateur and hotelier Victor Hugo Aleidis, whose Victor Hugo restaurant in downtown Los Angeles was a popular destination during the 1920s and ’30s. The grand residence cost $75,000 to build over a seven-year period and was completed in 1931.
More than 8,600 square feet of interior space features hand-painted frescoes and tile work, original iron windows and doors and hardware imported from England. Unusual skylights top dual sweeping staircases in the grand foyer.
The multilevel floor plan, designed to be both thoughtful and functional, includes a formal dining room, a game/music room and a library. A magnificent formal living room is filled with lacy molding trimmed in gold. The kitchen, which has a garden-view breakfast nook, was updated by designer Nate Berkus.
The six bedrooms and six bathrooms include a master suite with dual bathrooms and two balconies that overlook an adjoining park. There are three stone fireplaces, each of which was hand-carved and imported.
The grounds of more than an acre feature a swimming pool, a pool house, grottoes and a turtle pond. Elsewhere on the grounds is a sanctuary for lemurs and other exotic animals.
Alley bought the property two decades ago, paying about $3 million, records show.
The 67-year-old won Golden Globe and Emmy awards for her role in the sitcom “Cheers.” She won another Emmy in 1994 for her lead actress role in the miniseries “David’s Mother.” More recently she appeared on the show “Scream Queens.”
Jamie Durie, who cultivates landscapes for celebrities in his HGTV show “The Outdoor Room,” has listed his lush spot in the Hollywood Hills for sale at $2.995 million.
Fittingly, the 1950s residence features an abundance of greenery. Plants, trees and cacti surround the home, from the front yard to the swimming pool and lounges out back.
The home itself, designed in Midcentury Modern style, offers original details throughout 2,676 square feet of interiors. Walls of glass and a stone fireplace anchor the indoor-outdoor living room. Clerestory windows top the master suite, which holds a bathroom with mirrored walls and a sunken wood tub.
Three bedrooms and two bathrooms fill out the main house, and the property also holds a detached studio space. Covered in wood, it takes in treetop views from a hillside perch.
Another highlight comes out back, where cabanas surround a swimming pool. The landscaped space holds a dining area, a shower, a fire pit and a lounge with built-in seating.
A native of Australia, Durie has writeen 11 books on landscape and garden design. His backyard improvement show “The Outdoor Room” premiered a decade ago in Australia before moving to HGTV in the U.S. two years later.
