Minnelli Mansion
812 North Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
This once beautiful Beverly Hills mansion, the Minnelli Mansion, was left abandoned to fall into disrepair right in the middle of posh Beverly Hills. How did this happen?
Vincente Minnelli was born on February 28, 1903, in Chicago, IL, the youngest of four boys. He was a huge success as a director. Alan Jay Lerner (of Lerner and Loewe fame) described Minnelli as, “the greatest director of motion picture musicals the screen has ever seen.”
He was married four times to …
- Judy Garland (June 15, 1945 – March 29, 1951), the marriage ended in divorce — one child, Liza May Minnelli (born 1946)
- Georgette Magnani (February 1, 1954 – January 1, 1958), the marriage ended in divorce — one child, Christiane Nina Minnelli (born 1955)
- Danica “Denise” Radosavljevic (January 15, 1962 – August 1, 1971), the marriage ended in divorce
- Margaretta Lee Anderson (April 1, 1980, – July 25, 1986), his fourth and final marriage; they remained married for six years until Minnelli’s death in 1986. Anderson died in 2009 at the age of 100.
Vincente Minnelli’s first marriage was to Judy Garland from 1945-1951. Judy Garland did not live in this mansion as they were already divorced when he purchased the property in the mid 1950’s. Their daughter, Liza Minnelli, was only four at the time of the couples divorce in 1951. Liza has 2 half siblings from her mothers second marriage, Lorna and Joey, and a half sister from Vincent’s second marriage, Christiane Nina Minnelli. Liza spent six months of the year with her mother and six months with her father. Vincente purchased the Beverly Hills mansion on Crescent drive in the mid 1950s and this was Liza’s Los Angeles childhood home.
On July 25, 1986, Vincente Minnelli died at his Beverly Hills home at the age of 83. He suffered from Alzheimers disease and ultimately died from emphysema and pneumonia. Click on the link to the find a grave head stone photo from findagrave.com
Vincente’s last will, dated March 25, 1982, was made public a week after his death. The bulk of the 1.1 million estate including jewelry, artwork, house furnishings, and memorabilia, was left to Liza. His fourth wife Lee received $100,000.00. Conditions of the will allowed Lee to remain living in the Crescent Drive mansion for as long as she wanted. To his second daughter Nina, he left a modest $5,000. Vincente cited that he presumed Nina was well taken care of. Nina contested the will claiming that Vincente always wanted the two girls to share the home. And that perhaps Liza had influenced her father in his ailing years. The dispute was settled out of court and Nina’s children were named as beneficiaries to an undisclosed amount.
The Mansion
The home is located in the heart of Beverly Hills at 812 N. Crescent Drive and was built in 1925. It is now a French Regency style Mansion (originally a Spanish Colonial Revival style.) As of the 2017 tax assessment the home and land is valued at $2,743,238.00. It was renovated in 1944-53 by Hollywood Regency architect John Elgin Woolf. It sold for 2.3 million on 2/7/2006.
Zillow description in 2017
- Single family residence
- 19 rooms including 6 beds and 6 baths
- 5,877 square feet
- Corner lot is 42,512 sq. feet
- One car garage
- In ground pool
Zillow, as of February 2021 lists this residence as 6 beds/ 6 baths/ 5877 sq. ft. and valued at $13,245,111.
Originally built in 1925 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The driveway that is on Crescent was likely the original entrance, it would have gone straight through the porte cochere to the garage situated near the alley. The gate on Sunset and the brick wall surrounding the property, according to the permit history, were added during the 1944-53 renovation. The building permit for the renovation describes the structure as a “Two and a half story residence, French style Louis XV.” (Source credit Beverly Hills Heritage on Facebook).
Lee Anderson Minnelli’s tenure
In 1999, the Los Angeles Times’ magazine profiled Lee for its special millennium issue. LA Times visited Lee for an in depth interview and photos of Lee at home. As Lee gave reporter Robin Abcarian the full house tour, she happily showed off Vincente’s clothes closets which were enclosed by glass-front cabinets in the vast dressing rooms. Her closets were crammed with designer clothes and the surfaces were littered with framed photographs, books, and papers. Lee had changed almost nothing since Vincente passed away in 1986. Even his paints and easels were right where he left them in his dressing room.
In 2000, Liza Minnelli began looking for a buyer for the house and in early 2002 Liza accepted an offer on the home.
A legal battle ensued
On April 4, 2002, Lee Minnelli accused Liza of neglect in a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit. The suit claimed that Liza was trying to sell the house out from under the 94 year old Lee Minnelli. The suit contended that as the executor and trustee of Vincente’s estate, Liza was obligated to maintain the home for her step mother. Court papers allege Liza refused to pay the utilities or house staff and that Liza “has instructed her representatives to remove Lee by whatever means necessary,” according to the lawsuit.
Liza’s spokesman Warren Cowan said in a statement, “Liza Minnelli has sold her home in Beverly Hills, where Lee Minnelli has lived for many years, during which time Liza has paid for all of Lee’s expenses.” According to the statement, “Liza has offered to buy Lee a condo … but her generous offer has been refused. It is now in the hands of attorneys.”
Lee’s attorney attests that she has “been reduced to an anxious and fearful beggar,” the suit charges. She is afraid to turn on the lights; as a result, she falls often. Because the pool man has been fired, the suit says, ”the pool is now a green swamp and a breeding ground for insects.” The papers filed claimed Lee has become disoriented and upset from being subjected to Liza’s Whims and fancies. Lee accused Liza of breach of contract, elder abuse, and infliction of emotional distress.
Liza countered by telling Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd in a column published April 2002: “My father left me the house, saying, ‘It is my wish if you sell the house that you move her (Lee) to a residence.’ I finally got a nice offer to sell it and offered her a $450,000 condo, tax-free. She won’t move. I’ve been supporting her forever. I did exactly what my father asked me to do. And now we can’t go into escrow because she won’t move. I am willing to give her a happy life.”
Minnellis find a solution
On May 13, 2002, Lee dropped the suit telling the judge “I can’t sue Liza, she’s my daughter.” Apparently a phone call from Liza and dinner at Spago’s was all it took to persuade Lee to drop the lawsuit. Liza agreed to continue to pay for upkeep and expenses on the home.
On August 10, 2002, Liza was sued by the couple trying to buy the Crescent Lane mansion. They claimed the sale was prevented by Lee Minnelli’s residency in the home. Mehrdad Saghian and Stephanie Jarin allege in their breach of contract suit that they agreed to Minnelli’s asking price of $2.75 million and made an $82,500 deposit in February, but that the singer has not yet opened escrow on the property. Liza tried to void the sale of the home, but lawyers forbade it.
An arrangement was made with the new buyers Saghian and Jarin. This arrangement allowed Liza to pay them rent so that Lee could stay at the house until her death. Then the the owners could finally take residency. The house didn’t close escrow until 2006—four years after the sale began.
Why was it abandoned?
This is pure speculation on my part and some theories thrown around on forums. When Lee Minnelli passed away in 2009 at the age of 100, the house was finally given over to the new owners. Maybe Liza retrieved some things she wanted from the home, but she certainly wouldn’t be interested in old furniture and tv’s. Those items were probably just left since the house needed a complete renovation and that was up to the new owners. As to why the new owners did not demo right away and get the dilapidated house cleaned up is unclear. Some people have suggested that the owners did not want to restore the home and the city would not allow them to raze it. Was this why it had been basically left open to squatters for years? Perhaps in hopes it would be accidentally burned down or be destroyed by vandals beyond repair? I would have to guess that the explanation would more likely be paperwork, red tape, regulations and zoning issues. It was eventually properly closed off from the public’s prying eyes and a lot of construction occurred for several years . At long last, the home has a new life. Check out the historical mansion at google maps to see the new mansion today.
To see images of the mansion abandoned and in disrepair check out CurbedLA
Source information Curbed LA Wikipedia LA Times
Photo credit mansion image 1927 (Thank you USC Libraries for allowing me to post the historical photo circa 1927).
Additional photo credits: Google maps and Getty embedded images.
Adam the Woo explored the abandoned mansion in May 2014. Below is the Youtube video.
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