Perhaps you have heard of the late Dorothy Buffum Chandler via the pavilion named for her Downtown (she heroically raised the funds to build the Music Center during a dark period for DTLA)? Or perhaps you've heard of her late husband Norman Chandler, mid-century LA Times publisher and son of Harry Chandler, who made the Times into a civic force and helped develop Hollywoodland? Well, here's their somewhat troubled Windsor Square estate, up for sale today asking $11.25 million--the 1913 house, known as Los Tiempos, was in the Chandler family until Dorothy's death in 1997. The Hollywood Reporter first broke the story earlier this month that the house would be coming on the market. According to a 2006 report (pdf) on its eligibility for historic-cultural monument status (which it eventually earned), the house has a mindblowing old Los Angeles pedigree: it was designed by J. Martyn Haenke, William Dodd, and Julia Morgan (Morgan was William Randolph Hearst's favorite architect and the trio also collaborated on the beautiful Herald-Examiner Building Downtown), and it was built for Dr. Peter Janss (his Janss Investment Company developed Westwood and Canoga Park). After the Chandlers purchased the house, it became something of a Western White House for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon (obviously the Chandlers were not partisans).
After Dorothy's death, the house sold to designers Timothy Corrigan and Kathleen Scheinfield, then eventually to Joseph Handleman and Courtney Callahan. The current owners have been wrapped up in a legal dispute for years now with the prior owners, who "they say misled them about the state of disrepair the property was in when they acquired it in 2006 for $8.75 million," according to THR. Meanwhile, they've done a huge restoration.
The house is 9,329 feet of Beaux Arts grandiosity, with eight bedrooms, .83 acres, and a pool. That asking price again is $11.25 million.
· 455 LORRAINE BLVD. [Joe Babajian]
· L.A.'s Former Dorothy Chandler Estate Up for Sale [THR]
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