Picture it: Los Angeles, 2020
July 16, 2020 1:00 AM Subscribe
The house used for the exterior shots of Blanche Devereaux's Miami home in the The Golden Girls television series is on the market for the first time ever.
The original owners, David Noble Barry III and his wife Margaret Carr Barry, lived in the home they commissioned in Los Angeles in 1955 until their respective deaths in 2017 and 2019. (Variety, July 15, 2020) The Barrys, whose ranch house design was "inspired by the midcentury modern home that David’s father owned in Hawaii," were exotic plant collectors: "Golden Girls" location scouts were initially drawn to the home’s flourishing flora since it gave off more of a Miami vibe than most L.A.-area properties. The Barrys agreed to have their house featured on the show for a small fee and loved having their famous home be seen on a national platform, though they were reportedly not sitcom fans and didn’t watch the show. (Architectural Digest, July 15, 2020)
The Golden Girls filmed its interior house scenes on California soundstages. Artist Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde imagines the floorplan for chez Devereaux (6151 Richmond Street, Miami, FL) here. The 2,901 square feet, 4 bed/3.5 ba house, in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, has an asking price of $2.999 million. (Realtor listing, 30 photos. AD: Many period details remain, perhaps most notably the tricolor kitchen, which features bright walls and cabinetry painted shades of turquoise, avocado, and yellow. Original hardwood floors, too.)
The Golden Girls, previously on MetaFilter.
The original owners, David Noble Barry III and his wife Margaret Carr Barry, lived in the home they commissioned in Los Angeles in 1955 until their respective deaths in 2017 and 2019. (Variety, July 15, 2020) The Barrys, whose ranch house design was "inspired by the midcentury modern home that David’s father owned in Hawaii," were exotic plant collectors: "Golden Girls" location scouts were initially drawn to the home’s flourishing flora since it gave off more of a Miami vibe than most L.A.-area properties. The Barrys agreed to have their house featured on the show for a small fee and loved having their famous home be seen on a national platform, though they were reportedly not sitcom fans and didn’t watch the show. (Architectural Digest, July 15, 2020)
The Golden Girls filmed its interior house scenes on California soundstages. Artist Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde imagines the floorplan for chez Devereaux (6151 Richmond Street, Miami, FL) here. The 2,901 square feet, 4 bed/3.5 ba house, in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, has an asking price of $2.999 million. (Realtor listing, 30 photos. AD: Many period details remain, perhaps most notably the tricolor kitchen, which features bright walls and cabinetry painted shades of turquoise, avocado, and yellow. Original hardwood floors, too.)
The Golden Girls, previously on MetaFilter.
Wait a minute, they pulled up all the carpet EXCEPT THE CARPET THAT WAS IN THE KITCHEN????
posted by saladin at 5:17 AM on July 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by saladin at 5:17 AM on July 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
Not updating the kitchen is a good sales tactic: use that retro vibe to catch the eye in the listing and the buyers can always remodel later. People are particular about what they like in a kitchen and presumably anyone who can drop $3mil on a house can also throw some money at renovation.
posted by Flannery Culp at 5:54 AM on July 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Flannery Culp at 5:54 AM on July 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
What a beautiful house! I think it's linoleum in the kitchen, not carpet.
Do you not have plans in American listings? I'd really like to see the real floor plan.
posted by mumimor at 6:26 AM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Do you not have plans in American listings? I'd really like to see the real floor plan.
posted by mumimor at 6:26 AM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
No mention of whether or not there’s a lanai. WTF??
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:11 AM on July 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:11 AM on July 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
No mention of whether or not there’s a lanai. WTF??
There's a really big covered patio with skylights.
What a beautiful house! I think it's linoleum in the kitchen, not carpet.
Looks like tan carpet to me (especially with the rounded edges around the cabinetry), but could be linoleum that looks like carpet.
2900 sq ft in one story -and the lot looks huge.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:17 AM on July 16, 2020
There's a really big covered patio with skylights.
What a beautiful house! I think it's linoleum in the kitchen, not carpet.
Looks like tan carpet to me (especially with the rounded edges around the cabinetry), but could be linoleum that looks like carpet.
2900 sq ft in one story -and the lot looks huge.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:17 AM on July 16, 2020
It's also a proto-mcmansion, with the weird angles due to the insane number of rooflines. The mcmansionhell lady should review it.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:20 AM on July 16, 2020
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:20 AM on July 16, 2020
It's kind of jarring to see the interior be so different than what I was expecting (from the show, natch).
posted by Mogur at 7:31 AM on July 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 7:31 AM on July 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
No way that's a McMansion. The front elevation is really sedate, no wacky gables at all. The great room in the back is really nice actually. Looks more Prairie style than anything Californian.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:46 AM on July 16, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:46 AM on July 16, 2020 [8 favorites]
Wait a minute, they pulled up all the carpet EXCEPT THE CARPET THAT WAS IN THE KITCHEN????
It appears to be either linoleum or stone composite, based on the photos, although the texture could look like carpet at a glance.
posted by me3dia at 8:53 AM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
It appears to be either linoleum or stone composite, based on the photos, although the texture could look like carpet at a glance.
posted by me3dia at 8:53 AM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
It appears to be either linoleum or stone composite, based on the photos, although the texture could look like carpet at a glance.
The height difference too. Check the picture where the kitchen leads into the dining room. Linoleum is so thin (2mm) even in the US it's measured in millimeters. This is more fun than the dress or the shoes when it comes to optical illusions.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2020
The height difference too. Check the picture where the kitchen leads into the dining room. Linoleum is so thin (2mm) even in the US it's measured in millimeters. This is more fun than the dress or the shoes when it comes to optical illusions.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2020
It appears to be either linoleum or stone composite
Ah yep, in the picture of the breakfast nook/pantry area you can see that they ran a border of it along the bottom of the walls too. Definitely not carpet. Thank God.
posted by saladin at 9:21 AM on July 16, 2020
Ah yep, in the picture of the breakfast nook/pantry area you can see that they ran a border of it along the bottom of the walls too. Definitely not carpet. Thank God.
posted by saladin at 9:21 AM on July 16, 2020
2900 sq ft in one story -and the lot looks huge.
Yeah, seems like cheap for the area. Although, if you look at on Zillow, you'll see that "huge" lot is actually just a small piece carved out of what was once a once larger lot. Having your neighbor's driveway going up right next to the wall of your house, plus a weird-ass giant house on a skinny lot on the other side. Maybe someone will buy all three and return that lot to it's former mega-lot glory, because that's actually a pretty small yard for that neighborhood, at least on that side of the street.
posted by sideshow at 9:23 AM on July 16, 2020
Yeah, seems like cheap for the area. Although, if you look at on Zillow, you'll see that "huge" lot is actually just a small piece carved out of what was once a once larger lot. Having your neighbor's driveway going up right next to the wall of your house, plus a weird-ass giant house on a skinny lot on the other side. Maybe someone will buy all three and return that lot to it's former mega-lot glory, because that's actually a pretty small yard for that neighborhood, at least on that side of the street.
posted by sideshow at 9:23 AM on July 16, 2020
No mention of whether or not there’s a lanai. WTF??
Excuse me, Krystle Carrington -- from the Variety link: "Surrounding the perimeter of the house is a Japanese engawa, a wraparound porch, that connects to the home’s veranda in the back, which offers up the perfect place to lounge in the hot summer months."
Also, I missed this detail at the realtor listing linked in the post: Inspired by the beauty of Mid-Century Japanese/Hawaiian architecture, award-winning Hawaiian architects Johnson and Perkins were commissioned to design this 4-bedroom dream home. This Hawaii Modernism Context Study link, at the Historic Hawaii Foundation, has more on Johnson & Perkins: Allen Johnson and Thomas Perkins met each other at the University of California at Berkeley’s architectural school. [...] Much of their work was residential in character; many of their residences won Hawaii Chapter A.I.A. design awards. Three Johnson & Perkins projects at Historic Hawaii. Architect Spotlight: Thomas D. Perkins (1906-1966) on Facebook. The architects' firm, founded in 1939, was in business until 1992.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:02 PM on July 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
Excuse me, Krystle Carrington -- from the Variety link: "Surrounding the perimeter of the house is a Japanese engawa, a wraparound porch, that connects to the home’s veranda in the back, which offers up the perfect place to lounge in the hot summer months."
Also, I missed this detail at the realtor listing linked in the post: Inspired by the beauty of Mid-Century Japanese/Hawaiian architecture, award-winning Hawaiian architects Johnson and Perkins were commissioned to design this 4-bedroom dream home. This Hawaii Modernism Context Study link, at the Historic Hawaii Foundation, has more on Johnson & Perkins: Allen Johnson and Thomas Perkins met each other at the University of California at Berkeley’s architectural school. [...] Much of their work was residential in character; many of their residences won Hawaii Chapter A.I.A. design awards. Three Johnson & Perkins projects at Historic Hawaii. Architect Spotlight: Thomas D. Perkins (1906-1966) on Facebook. The architects' firm, founded in 1939, was in business until 1992.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:02 PM on July 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
That's so gorgeous. How come there's never $3 mil lying around when I need it?
posted by allthinky at 1:14 PM on July 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by allthinky at 1:14 PM on July 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
Artist Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde imagines the floorplan for chez Devereaux (6151 Richmond Street, Miami, FL) here
Who designs a house like this? That looks like a bedroom archipelago connected by hallway sandbars.
posted by Popular Ethics at 3:00 PM on July 16, 2020
Who designs a house like this? That looks like a bedroom archipelago connected by hallway sandbars.
posted by Popular Ethics at 3:00 PM on July 16, 2020
California real estate is just bananas. If you don’t follow milliondollarshithole on IG yet, do it now.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:06 PM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:06 PM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Self-taught architect Clifford May built rambling ranch-style houses (single-storey, separate bedroom wings, connected outdoor living spaces) in the 1930s; the design became very popular in the US after WWII. "'The ranch house was everything a California house should be - it had cross-ventilation, the floor was level with the ground, and with its courtyard and the exterior corridor, it was about sunshine and informal outdoor living.''- May, quoted in this July 3, 1986 NYT article at the Internet Archive.
The article continues: With bedroom wings stretching into yards, and courtyards and patios mingling with interior spaces, the ranch house proved a comfortable, likable, adaptable and enormously popular family house, one that also offered a life style. Already imitated by the mid-1930's, the ranch house went on to conquer many American suburbs with its charm and simplicity, and, especially during the 1950's, encouraged the country's informal backyard way of life. There were many variations of Mr. May's California ranch house across the country; contractors simplified it in the 1960's into a more modern-style structure that kept the long, low lines and outdoor orientation.
--
May is noted for combining the western ranch house and Hispanic hacienda styles with elements of modernism. His approach called for houses to be built out instead of up, with the continual goal of bringing the outdoors in.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:36 PM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
The article continues: With bedroom wings stretching into yards, and courtyards and patios mingling with interior spaces, the ranch house proved a comfortable, likable, adaptable and enormously popular family house, one that also offered a life style. Already imitated by the mid-1930's, the ranch house went on to conquer many American suburbs with its charm and simplicity, and, especially during the 1950's, encouraged the country's informal backyard way of life. There were many variations of Mr. May's California ranch house across the country; contractors simplified it in the 1960's into a more modern-style structure that kept the long, low lines and outdoor orientation.
--
May is noted for combining the western ranch house and Hispanic hacienda styles with elements of modernism. His approach called for houses to be built out instead of up, with the continual goal of bringing the outdoors in.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:36 PM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Remember how Sofia was always saying things like, “Picture it : Sicily, 1931...” If Sofia really had been in Sicily in 1931, that means she was there for the rise of Mussolini, and possibly even WWII. No wonder Sofia was the 'sardonic' one — Sofia’s seen some shit.
posted by panama joe at 4:09 AM on July 17, 2020
posted by panama joe at 4:09 AM on July 17, 2020
She has, but I think she's supposed to have left Italy no later than 1928 -- there are references to witnessing in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1929, Chicago) in a couple of episodes, and her daughter Dorothy was born in NYC around 1930.
The series is on Hulu right now.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:00 PM on July 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
The series is on Hulu right now.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:00 PM on July 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Don.Kinsayder at 4:49 AM on July 16, 2020 [1 favorite]