Bob Hope estate in Toluca Lake back on the market

Photo: Erik Grammer

The last time that the Bob and Dolores Hope compound was listed for sale, the asking price was $27.5 million. So this time I guess it's a bargain: just $23 million. The five-acre compound on Moorpark Street remains one of the biggest residential properties within the city limits of Los Angeles, with several buildings and Hope's old golf course. It's also the granddaddy of homes associated with Valleywood, built in 1939 when the stars had large homes and ranches scattered across the San Fernando Valley when it was mainly agricultural. Hope's home in Toluca Lake is within walking distance of Warner Bros., Universal and the Lakeside Country Club. The listing is with Craig Strong of the John Aaroe Group. Here's the new round of flackage.

The Hope estate at 10346 Moorpark Street was designed in an English traditional style by architect Richard Finkelhor, who also built houses for Barbara Stanwyck and Zeppo and Harpo Marx. The Hopes loved to entertain and planned the home to accommodate large star-studded gatherings as well as informal visits from neighbors like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Toluca Lake has long been a favored home base for stars, including current residents Steve Carell, Melissa McCarthy and Kiefer Sutherland, notes Strong.

The centerpiece of the Hope Estate, built in 1939, is an almost 15,000-square-foot main residence with an immense formal living room renovated in the 1950s by John Elgin Woolf, the king of Hollywood Regency style. In the main residence, a soaring foyer leads to a vast formal living room with walls of glass overlooking the breathtaking grounds and a post and beam patio. The main house also includes a family room, bar and billiard room, formal dining room, family dining room, commercial grade chef’s kitchen, a library, office and staff quarters. A curving staircase rises to the second floor, home to four family bedroom suites and a lavish master wing with a fireplace, his-and-her spa baths and closets, and a shared study.

In addition to the classic outdoor pool, a glass-enclosed indoor pool and spa look out across the grounds. An array of outdoor spaces on both levels afford stunning views of the sumptuous gardens and lawns, highlighted by a formal rose garden and a one-hole, three-par golf course. A spacious motor court completes the home.

Legacy trees border the walled and gated estate, making this an utterly private retreat. The site encompasses four parcels, offering abundant space for multiple structures including a two-bedroom, two-bath pool house and a 4,000-square-foot production office/guest house at the front of the property that housed Hope’s staff that managed his radio, television, film and real estate interests.

Previously on LA Observed:
Bob Hope estate in Toluca Lake listed for $27.5 million
Traffic jam in Toluca Lake: Bob Hope yard sale