Paul Narvaez , Flickr//CC BY NC 2.0
One of the houses on Beverly Hills ’ North Walden Drive is not like the others . With its steeply angled roof , askew shutters , rickety picket fence , and moat , the Spadena House — or , as some call it , the " Witch House"—looks more like it belongs on the set of a fairytale pic than on a street in Los Angeles . And , in fact , that ’s exactly where 516 N. Walden Drive was to begin with built : On the lot of Willat Studio in Culver City .
The house was design by Oscar - make artwork director Harry Oliver in 1921 . The owners of the studio , Carl and Irvin Willat , instruct him to ramp up a structure that could house the studio ’s office outer space and garb room and double as a set to save money . agree to the Culver City Historical Society , Oliver began studying the architecture of bungalow in the former English countryside and " came up with the idea of an ' English bungalow fantasy ' computer architecture . " Although it looked " tumble down , " theLos Angeles Express assured its readersthat the studio ’s office were " equipped with the most innovative add-on . "
The future " Witch House " on the Willats Studio lot in Culver City in 1921 . photograph courtesy BeverlyHills.org [ PDF ] .
The decorator could n’t have predicted the reaction to his " story - Good Book " house , which fronted 6509 Washington Boulevard — it reportedly caused elevator car accident , draw a identification number of visitors , and garnered sight of mechanical press . " Only a moving-picture show music director could design such a quaint structure,“notedThe Norwalk Hourin 1922 . " Those who survive in Hollywood are always seek for the strange and unique . '
When the studio went out of commercial enterprise , the Willats plan to demolish the house . or else , it was buy by Ward Lascelle , a producer , who moved it to its current fix in Beverly Hills in 1926 . Lascelle turned the business firm " into a functioning home , " Michael J. Libow , who buy the house in 1998,toldLos Angeles Magazine . " It was really lowly at the clock time . There was only the ledger entry vestibule , a chamber , a bathroom , and a midget kitchen . "
The Witch House in its new localization on N. Walden Avenue . Photo courtesy BeverlyHills.org [ PDF ] .
Lascelle ’s wife , Lillian , would finally divorce him and wed a man whose last name was Spadena ( hence the Spadena House ) . In 1965 , Lillian sold the planetary house to the Green family . The home ’s fame was an adjustment : tourist and gawkers occur by the carful . " I used to hunt down in the theatre when people came by , " Doris Greentold theLA Timesin 1994 . " Now I ’m in a lot of pictures with my horticulture clothes on . " Eventually , though , the Greens fetch in on the fun , dress up and handing out confect to kids on Halloween . Urban legend about the firm formed ; according to one fib , the sign of the zodiac was built by a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs obsessive .
finally , the Greens stop handing out candy on Halloween , and the house fell into disrepair . In 1997 , Mrs. Green put the Witch House up for sales agreement . Most prospective buyers wanted to shoot the sign of the zodiac down , but Libow , who develop up in the area , " always loved the structure,“he told theLA Timesin 2005 , and did n’t want that to materialize . So he bought it for the monetary value of the plenty ( $ 1.3 million ) , and go under about remodeling it with the assistance of Nelson Coates , a pic production couturier .
It was not an sluttish problem : In addition to a dilapidate exterior , the internal 3500 hearty foot nursing home was stick in the 1960s , when the Greens has last remodeled it . " I had been to Barcelona , Spain and go down in dearest with Antoni Gaudi ’s sensibility , " Libow toldLA Mag , which also hasexclusive photos of the interior of the Witch House . " I was fascinated with how his buildings appear to give forth from the ground in an constituent fashion . I wanted my home to have a similar vibration as it is such an anomaly for the flats of Beverly Hills . " Libow evoke the ceilings , added Mrs. Henry Wood cabinetry and idiom , had glass custom - made for the interior , and put in a puddle . Despite all the change , grant to a 2013 paper ready by Ostashay & Associates Consulting for the City of Beverly Hills [ PDF ] , " the house appear interchangeable to photographs taken of the property in the 1920s . "
The family continues to be an drawing card ; between 3000 and 4000 Kyd visit the house every Halloween , and tour busses arrest by " countless clip per mean solar day , " Libow toldLA Magazine . " I was enjoin by a Starline turn guide that mine is the most requested and most visited non - celebrity house in all of the West Los Angeles ! " The sign of the zodiac will be around for generation to come : In 2013 , it wasdesignated a historic landmarkby the City of Beverly Hills .
