Donna Scott, widow of the Emmy Award winning television and film director/producer Tony Scott, has placed their historic Hollywood Bella Vista property in Beverly Hills on the open market for a hefty amount of $42.5 million.
According to Mark David of Variety, it was reported several months back that the former beauty queen and actress quietly engaged the services of a Platinum Triangle real estate agent to have the property off market for $25 million, an amount notably lower and which covers only the main portion of the spread and not the entire estate.
David describes the main house as a rambling, Spanish colonial with a multi-level red tile roof that was built in the mid-20s on granite by architect John Byers. It was originally constructed for filmmaker King Vidor who then sold it to silverscreen legend John Barrymore in 1927. At the time Barrymore was still residing in it, the property expanded to more than seven acres and had at least 16 structures. It was rented over the years by other celebrities such as Candice Bergen, Marlon Brando and Katharine Hepburn.
Bianca Barragan of Curbed LA illustrates the main house as having three bedroom, two bathrooms, an in-house pub, octagonal living room, and two libraries. Barragan says that although it is not clear from the property listing how much from Barrymore's style remains in the property, it is assumed that the "opium den" in the master bedroom and the floor made out of the trunks of redwood trees in the in-home pub are holdovers. Added to the two older guests cottages is a brand new two-storey guest house which has two living rooms, three bedrooms and two kitchens. The property sits on a total of six lots and occupies 3.44 acres. It also has numerous terraces, stone stairways, a courtyard with fountain, a flat but well-irrigated lawn, a lagoon style pool with stone cabana and "meandering paths."
The Scotts were said to have shelled out a total of $9.225 million in the 1990s for the purchase of a portion of the entire estate. In September 1998, the larger parcel with the main house was acquired for $6.35 million. The next, much smaller parcel was bought in 2002 for $1.2 million.
Tony Scott died tragically when he jumped off a bridge in San Pedro, California in 2012. Property records show that his wife, Donna, is the rightful owner of the property.
