The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills

La Belle Ville
Bel Air

In Bel Air, alluring dreams often become reality.

For many years, one devoted couple had greatly admired both Rodin sculptures and 18th-century Parisian mansions known as maisons particuliers. Over the years, they had become leading collectors of Rodin’s works, gathering more than 750 drawings, prints, and sculptures, both large and small. So, when they wanted a Los Angeles home, they purchased a property on coveted St. Cloud Road, constructed an 18th-century Parisian mansion, and displayed some of their favorite Rodin sculptures in the residence and on its grounds.

No Los Angeles address was home to more movie people than the 1930s Neo-Colonial home that was demolished just before this couple purchased the property. The parade of Hollywood owners started with famed director Frank Capra, then Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, followed by director Mervyn LeRoy, then the powerful and much-feared Louis B. Mayer, who was the head (some said, dictator) of the Metro Goldwyn Mayer studio, and finally comedian Jerry Lewis.

When the art-collecting couple who acquired this celebrated property decided that an 18th-century Paris mansion should be the inspiration for their home, they made an immediate choice: the Hôtel de Biron, now the Musée Rodin on the rue de Varennes, where famed sculptor Auguste Rodin lived in the early 20th century.

Upon its completion, the new 35,000-square-foot mansion was a much-admired addition to the Old Bel Air estate district. The architect had followed the owners’ instructions to the letter, and they had found the talented craftsmen and provided enough time and money to create a mansion that was not only large and impressive, but tasteful and refined at the same time. No wonder the estate was named “La Belle Vie.”

The mansion’s interior was a showstopper, even by Bel Air standards. The front door opened into a 30-foot-tall oval entrance hall that rose to a columned second-floor gallery, and ended at a richly decorated dome encircled by 10 skylights. A curving white marble staircase with an intricately designed wrought-iron banister stretched from the entrance hall to the second (topmost) floor.

The ballroom-size two-story living room, dining room, and formal family room had marble floors, highly decorative ceiling plasterwork, and the finest 18th-century French furniture. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings hung on the walls. Not surprisingly, Rodin sculptures were exhibited throughout the house, not only in the rooms, but also at the end of corridors for the greatest visual impact.

At the back of the mansion, the main rooms opened onto a French stone terrace. Grand staircases led down to a perfectly manicured lawn and formal gardens. From the gardens, more staircases led to the swimming pool, the neoclassical pool house, and down to the tennis court. Rodin sculptures were carefully arranged throughout the grounds.

By any measure—its location, size, stunning interior, exquisitely landscaped grounds, or impeccable materials and craftsmanship—the owners had decisively proved that great estates, filled with great art, were not a thing of the past.