Samuel-Novarro House
{{short description|Apartment building in Hollywood, California. U.S.}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Samuel-Novarro House
| image= Samuel-Novarro House West Facade 4.jpg
| caption= Samuel-Novarro House West Facade
| location = 5609 Valley Oak Dr., Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
| area =
| completion_date = 1928
| architect = Lloyd Wright
| architectural_style = Art Deco
| governing_body = Private
}}
File:Samuel-Novarro House West Facade 6.jpg
Samuel-Novarro House, also known as the Samuel-Novarro Residence, is a historic Mayan Revival single-family dwelling designed by Lloyd Wright in 1928. It is located at 5609 Valley Oak Dr. in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/samuel-novarro-residence|title=Samuel-Novarro Residence | Los Angeles Conservancy|website=www.laconservancy.org}} It is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #130.{{Cite web| title=Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) List | url=https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/24f6fce7-f73d-4bca-87bc-c77ed3fc5d4f/Historical_Cultural_Monuments_List.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705194259/https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/24f6fce7-f73d-4bca-87bc-c77ed3fc5d4f/Historical_Cultural_Monuments_List.pdf | archive-date=2020-07-05}}
History
Lloyd Wright designed the 2,700-square-foot,{{Cite web|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/frank-lloyd-wright-jr-1928-samuel-novarro-house-returns-market|title=Frank Lloyd Wright Jr's 1928 Samuel-Novarro House Returns to Market|first=Elizabeth|last=Stamp|website=Architectural Digest|date=10 December 2018 }} three-bedroom, three-bathroom home for Ramon Novarro's manager, Louis Samuel, in 1928 on a 13,267-square-foot hillside lot.{{Cite web|url=https://bestlaneighborhoods.com/properties/lloyd-wright-samuel-novarro-house-for-sale-los-feliz/|title=Mid Century Modern Homes and Architecture for Sale in Los Angeles, CA|date=December 2, 2018|website=Best LA Neighborhoods}} When Novarro discovered that Samuel had embezzled funds from him in order to pay for the house, Novarro assumed ownership of it in 1931.{{Cite web|url=https://la.curbed.com/2018/12/4/18125785/lloyd-wright-samuel-novarro-house-for-sale|title=Fantastic Lloyd Wright house in Los Feliz Oaks is back on the market|first=Elijah|last=Chiland|date=December 4, 2018|website=Curbed LA}} He lived there until the late 1930s; in his tenure there, he commissioned Wright to expand the interior as well as the garden, adding a bedroom, music room, and bedroom suite.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dwell.com/article/samuel-novarro-house-lloyd-wright-for-sale-682cd32f|title=Lloyd Wright's Iconic Samuel-Novarro House Lists For $4.3M|first=Jennifer Baum|last=Lagdameo|website=Dwell|date=13 February 2019 }} He also conscripted famed art director Cedric Gibbons to design the interiors in an Art Deco style.
After Novarro vacated, a number of other Hollywood elite occupied the space, including Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, who rented the home together in 1944 while working on On the Town.{{cite book|author=Andre Soares|title=Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w2xHEDgSZkoC&pg=PA304|date=10 December 2002|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-28231-8|pages=304–}} Later, restaurateur Michael Chow, producer Charles D. Kasher, and actress Diane Keaton, as well as actress Christina Ricci along with boyfriend actor Adam Goldberg, lived in the house; Keaton purchased the home for $1.5 million in 1988, extensively renovating it and/or restoring it per architect Josh Schweitzer, and eventually selling it in the mid-1990s.{{Cite web|url=https://la.curbed.com/2011/11/2/10428768/lloyd-wrights-celebmagnet-samuelnovarro-house-in-los-feliz|title=Lloyd Wright's Celeb-Magnet Samuel-Novarro House in Los Feliz|date=November 2, 2011|website=Curbed LA}}
In 2005, Christina Ricci purchased the home for $2.979 million, only to sell it a year later for approximately $2,827,500 after she and Goldberg split.{{Cite web|url=https://la.curbed.com/2006/5/3/10606390/sold-samuel-nav|title=Sold! Samuel Navarro House Off the Market|first=Marissa|last=Gluck|date=May 3, 2006|website=Curbed LA}}{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2016/dirt/real-estalker/dale-launer-samuel-novarro-house-1201884085/|title=Dale Launer Lists Celeb-Pedigreed Samuel-Novarro House in Los Angeles|first1=Mark|last1=David|date=October 10, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-samuel-novarro-20141201-story.html|title=Lloyd Wright-designed Samuel-Novarro House sells in Hollywood Hills|date=December 2, 2014|website=Los Angeles Times}}
In 2014, the home was sold for $3.8 million, then listed again in 2016 for $4,295,000.
In 2019, the residence was on the market once more, with an asking price of $4.3 million.