Featured in the Winter 2017 issue of C magazine, this newly listed property comes with quite a backstory.
It started out life as a stage set built for the 1923 silent movie The Courtship of Miles Standish. When the film’s production company went belly-up, the banker who took control of the company’s assets had the cabin relocated from Lake Arrowhead and commissioned noted architect Arthur Heineman to convert it to a family beach house.
The cabin was transported to a site in Rustic Canyon known as Uplifters Ranch, a 120-acre parcel developed as a retreat for the Uplifters Club, an exclusive, male-only social group founded in the late 1800s. The elite fraternity’s membership roster included such notable names as Clark Gable, Harold Lloyd, Walt Disney, Will Rogers, Aldous Huxley, Spencer Tracy, Darryl F. Zanuck, and Supreme Court justice Earl Warren, who used the cabin as his summer home during the late 1940s and early 50s.
According to C, the cabin’s current owner purchased it in 1999 from Daryl Hannah, and in 2012 brought in architect Chris Peck, contractor Eric Dobkin, and interior designer Lisa Strong to enlarge and remodel the structure. Per the story:
Dobkin sourced materials from Bitterroot Valley Log & Timber Inc. in Victor, Mont.; importing and storing the lodgepole pine logs in locations across Los Angeles and transferring them to smaller trucks for delivery to the site. For the great room, an ardent replica of the original, the stones of the fireplace were meticulously dismantled, numbered and later reassembled, along with a salvaged and restored inglenook that stands on reclaimed French oak floors. They also preserved original furniture and architectural elements throughout, including an eight-panel oil mural and the double Dutch front door.
Modern elements in the now 6,195-square-foot lodge include solid slab granite floors, basalt countertops, high-end appliances and fixtures, “bespoke” chandeliers and lighting, built-ins, double-case windows, and bi-fold doors.
The home’s grounds have been enhanced with custom-designed river-rock-and-ledgestone walls, a splash pool, and a wood-fired grilling station.
Asking price for the .6-acre property is $7.995 million.
- 38 Haldeman Road [Partners Trust]
- Cabin Fever [C Magazine]