10050 Cielo Drive facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 10050 Cielo Drive |
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The road to the villa in 1997
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| General information | |
| Type | House |
| Architectural style | French Country |
| Location | Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles |
| Coordinates | 34°05′38″N 118°25′57″W / 34.093895°N 118.432467°W |
| Construction started | 1942 |
| Completed | 1944 |
| Demolished | 1994 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor area | 3,200 sq ft (300 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Robert Byrd |
10050 Cielo Drive was the address of a large, fancy house in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. This area is close to Beverly Hills.
The property had a main house and a smaller guest house. Many famous people from Hollywood and the music world lived in the main house over the years. In 1994, both buildings were taken down. A new house was built on the same spot, and its address was changed to 10066 Cielo Drive.
Contents
Design of the House
The first house at 10050 Cielo Drive was designed by Robert Byrd in 1942. It was finished in 1944 for a French actress named Michèle Morgan. The house looked a lot like another house nearby at 10048 Cielo Drive. Both houses were built at the same time on land once called The Bedrock Properties.
The house was built in a "French Country" style. This means it looked like an old farmhouse from the French countryside. It sat on about 3 acres of land. It had a private driveway on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon. This area is in the Santa Monica Mountains and offers views of Beverly Hills and Bel Air.
The house faced east and had many cool features. These included stone fireplaces, ceilings with wooden beams, windows with small panes of glass, and a loft above the living room. There was also a swimming pool and a guest house. Thick pine trees and flowering cherry trees surrounded the property.
Official records show that Arthur W. Hawes was the architect for this home. The company that built it was J.F. Wadkins Corp.
History of the Property
Michèle Morgan, an actress working for RKO Radio Pictures, asked architect Robert Byrd to design her home. She wanted it to look like an early 19th-century European farmhouse. J.F. Wadkins built the house, and it was finished in 1944. Its address became 10050 Cielo Drive.
The property was on a 3.3-acre flat piece of land above Benedict Canyon. The main house was 3,200 square feet, and the guest house was 2,000 square feet. According to the Los Angeles Times, Morgan paid $32,000 for it. After World War II, Morgan went back to France. The house was then sold to Dr. Hartley Dewey and his wife Louise. They rented it to actress Lillian Gish in 1946.
Rudolph Altobelli, a manager in the music and film industries, bought the house in the early 1960s. He often rented it out to famous people. Some of the residents included Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon, Henry Fonda, George Chakiris, Mark Lindsay, Samantha Eggar, and Olivia Hussey. From 1966 to 1969, musician Terry Melcher and actress Candice Bergen lived there.
In 1989, a real estate investor named John Prell bought the house. He paid $1.6 million for it. In 1992, Prell sold the property to another real estate investor, Alvin Weintraub.
Music and Recording at the House
The last person to live in the original house was musician Trent Reznor from the band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor rented the house starting in 1992. He set up a recording studio inside it. Most of the Nine Inch Nails album The Downward Spiral (1994) was recorded there. The band also recorded their EP Broken and filmed the music video for "Gave Up" at 10050 Cielo Drive. The band Marilyn Manson also recorded parts of their album Portrait of an American Family at the studio in 1992.
Reznor moved out in December 1993. He even took the front door of the house with him! He later put it in his new recording studio in New Orleans. This studio was later sold, and the building's outside look changed. The front door from 10050 Cielo Drive is now owned by Christopher Moore, an artist in New Orleans.
The House is Demolished
After renting out the house, Alvin Weintraub had it torn down in 1994. Construction on a brand new home started later that same year. In 1996, the new house was finished. Weintraub named it Villa Bella and got a new address for the property: 10066 Cielo Drive.
The new house looks nothing like the old one. It is a very large, 18,000-square-foot mansion built in a Mediterranean style.
As of December 2013, the owner of the property was Hollywood producer Jeff Franklin. In 2010, he told Architectural Digest that he loved the location, the view, and the privacy. However, he felt the design of the house was not well planned. The property was for sale in August 2019 for about $9.7 million. It was on the market again in January 2022 for $85 million, and the price was lowered to just under $70 million in June 2022.
Images for kids
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The road to the villa in 1997
See also
In Spanish: 10050 Cielo Drive para niños
