Bob and Dolores Hope estate in L.A.’s affluent Toluca Lake area has come back on the market at $23 million. Toluca Lake has long been a favored home base for stars, including current residents Steve Carell, Melissa McCarthy and Kiefer Sutherland. The walled, gated and landscaped 5.21-acre estate was designed in an English traditional style by architect Richard Finkelhor, who also built houses for Barbara Stanwyck and Zeppo and Harpo Marx. The Hopes loved to entertain and planned the home to accommodate large star-studded gatherings as well as informal visits from neighbors like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
The nearly 15,000-square-foot mansion was renovated in the 1950s by John Elgin Woolf, known for his Hollywood Regency style. Inside, there’s a high-ceilinged foyer which opens to a formal living room with walls of glass overlooking the grounds and a patio, a family room, a bar and billiard room, a formal dining room, a family dining room, a library, an office and staff quarters.
A curving staircase leads to the second floor, which features four bedroom suites and a master wing with a fireplace and a shared study. A glass-enclosed indoor pool and spa take in views of the flat lawn.
In addition to the main house, the Hope Estate has a two bedroom and two bathroom pool house and a 4,000-square-foot production office/guesthouse that once housed Mister Hope’s on-site staff.
An array of outdoor spaces on both levels afford stunning views of the sumptuous gardens and lawns, a formal rose garden, a one-hole, three-par golf course with a sand trap and a swimming pool. A spacious motor court completes the home.
Bob and Dolores Hope estate at 10346 Moorpark Street first popped up on the open market in September 2013 at $27.5 million before the asking price was slashed in mid-2014 to $21.8 million. It was taken off the open market in the fall of 2014.
