Designer Xorin Balbes has finally unloaded the Lloyd Wright-designed Sowden/Jaws House after at least five years of trying. Balbes bought the Los Feliz house in 2001 for $1.2 million, then did two kooky renovations (and added a lot of geodes). Between the renos, he listed the house both for sale (never with a price), and for rent ($25,000 per month). After a few years off the market, he put it up for sale again in March 2011, asking $4.2 million. Besides being a favorite filming spot (see it in The Aviator), the Sowden has a compelling old Hollywood backstory: former LAPD detective Steve Hodel, who lived there as a kid, claims that his father killed the Black Dahlia at the Sowden in 1947. The property closed escrow today with Redfin listing a sale price of $3.85 million. A tipster tells us the buyer "is a collector of historic real estate." Is that you, Michael LaFetra?
· Lloyd Wright's Los Feliz Sowden House Back on the Market [Curbed LA]
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