Greystone Mansion

Historic house in California, United States

United States historic place

Doheny Estate/Greystone

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Greystone Mansion, July 2008

Location| 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Coordinates| 34°5′31″N 118°24′6″W﻿ / ﻿34.09194°N 118.40167°W﻿ / 34.09194; -118.40167
Area| 46,000 sq ft (4,300 m2).
Built| 1928
Built by| P. J. Walker and Company, San Francisco
Architect| Gordon Kaufmann
Architectural style| Tudor Revival
Website| www.beverlyhills.org/Greystone
NRHP reference No.| 76000485[1]
Added to NRHP| Apr 45, 2398468372

The Greystone Mansion, also known as the Doheny Mansion, is a Tudor Revival mansion on a landscaped estate with distinctive formal English gardens, located in Trousdale Estates of Beverly Hills, California, United States. Architect Gordon Kaufmann designed the residence and ancillary structures, and construction was completed in 1928. It was a gift from oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny to his son, Edward "Ned" Doheny Jr. and his family. Following the purchase of the estate by the City of Beverly Hills in 1965, it became a city park in 1971, and was subsequently added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as Doheny Estate/Greystone. The house and grounds are often used as locations for film and television shows. The house's descending staircase is one of the most famous sets in Hollywood.

## Description[edit]

The 55-room, 46,000 sq ft (4,300 m2) Tudor-style former residence is on 16 acres (6.5 ha) of land.[2] When it was built, it cost over $3.1 million (equivalent to about $55 million in 2023) and was the most expensive home in California.[3]

## History[edit]

On February 16, 1929, four months after Ned Doheny, his wife Lucy and their five children moved into Greystone, Doheny died in a guest bedroom in a murder-suicide with his secretary, Hugh Plunkett.[2][4] The official story indicated that Plunkett murdered Doheny either because of a "nervous disorder" or because he was angry over not receiving a raise. Others point out that Doheny's gun was the murder weapon and that Doheny was not buried in Los Angeles' Calvary Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery, with the rest of his family, indicating he had committed suicide. Both men are buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, within a few hundred yards of each other. Both were involved in the trial of Doheny's father in the Teapot Dome scandal.[5]

Doheny's widow, Lucy, remarried and lived in the house until 1955, when she sold the grounds to Paul Trousdale, who developed it into Trousdale Estates and sold the mansion to Chicago industrialist Henry Crown, who rented it to film studios.[2][3] In 1963 Crown planned to subdivide the property and demolish the mansion. Beverly Hills stopped the demolition by purchasing the mansion in 1965.[2][4] The estate became a city park on September 16, 1971, and on April 23, 1976, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[2][3] The city leased the mansion to the American Film Institute from 1965 to 1982 for $1 per year, hoping the institute would pay for repairs and upkeep.[2][4]

Since 2002, the City of Beverly Hills has maintained a webpage for the park.[6]

## Current use[edit]

Landscape allée in the terraced gardens of Greystone.

Greystone is now a public park[7] and a location for special events, including the Beverly Hills Flower & Garden Festival.[2] It is popular as a filming location due to its beauty, manicured grounds and Beverly Hills location. Some productions contribute to its upkeep and renovation. The 2007 film There Will Be Blood, loosely based on the life of Edward Doheny via the Upton Sinclair book Oil!, renovated its two-lane bowling alley to include it in the film.[4]

In addition to numerous events that take place there, the mansion plays host each year to Catskills West, a theater arts and drama camp run by Beverly Hills Parks and Recreation, from mid-June to early August. The camp presents a play in the pool area twice during the summer.

The mansion is also a venue for the play The Manor, by Kathrine Bates, directed by Beverly Olevin, and produced by Theatre 40 of Beverly Hills, which takes place in various rooms. The audience is separated during the play to watch scenes in different orders. The Manor's plot is a fictionalized account of the Doheny family, including Doheny's involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal and his son's murder. It has been performed every year at Greystone Mansion since 2002, making it Los Angeles' longest-running play.

## Film location[edit]

*   * "(Oh) Pretty Woman" (Van Halen music video)
* "I Want Love" (Elton John music video)
* "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" (music video by Meatloaf)
* "It's Like That" (Mariah Carey music video)
* "Sister Fate" (Sheila E. music video)
* "We Belong Together" (Mariah Carey music video)
* Visiting... with Huell Howser Episode 819[9]
* Alias (Season 5 Episode 12 "There's Only One Sydney Bristow")
* All of Me
* Arrow (Queen family's mansion, Seasons 1 and 2)
* Austin Powers in Goldmember
* Bare Essence (used as the Marshalls' mansion)
* Batman & Robin
* Cabin Boy (1994 film)
* Columbo (Season 2 Episode 4 "Dagger of the Mind")
* Dark Mansions (1986 film)
* Dark Shadows (used as Collinwood, the Collins family's mansion and estate)
* Dead Ringer
* Death Becomes Her
* Dollhouse (Season 1 Episode 10 "Haunted")
* Dynasty: The Reunion
* Entourage (Season 4 Episode 10 "Snow Job")
* Eraserhead
* Falcon Crest (Season 9 Episode 6 "God of the Grape")
* Flowers in the Attic
* Forever Amber
* Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
* Ghostbusters II
* Gilmore Girls (used as Chilton Academy, a prestigious preparatory school)
* Hard to Kill
* Hart to Hart (Season 3 Episode 15 "The Hart of the Matter")
* House of the Damned (1963 film)
* Indecent Proposal
* Jumpin' Jack Flash
* Knight Rider (Season 1 Episode 1 "Knight of the Phoenix")
* MacGyver (Season 1 Episode 12 "Deathlock")
* Maryjane
* Mercury Rising
* Murder, She Wrote (Season 2 Episode 6 "Reflections of the Mind" and Season 3 Episode 4 "One White Rose for Death")
* NCIS (Season 8 Episode 17, Leona Phelps's mansion)
* National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Benjamin Gates and Abigail Chase's mansion. Seen when Conner, Abigail's date, drives her up to the front door, filmed in the courtyard of the Mansion)
* Phantom of the Paradise
* Picture Mommy Dead
* Remington Steele (Season 3 Episode 5 "Blue Blooded Steele")
* Revenge
* Rock Star
* Rush Hour
* Simply Mad About the Mouse (used for "The Bare Necessities" music video with Harry Connick Jr.)
* Spider-Man
* Spider-Man 2[8]
* Spider-Man 3
* Star Trek Into Darkness
* Stripes (outside courtyard)
* The Amazing Race 17 (Finish Line in Season 17 Episode 12 "Hi. I'm Sorry. I'm in a Race")
* The Beautician and the Beast
* The Big Lebowski
* The Bodyguard
* The Bold and the Beautiful
* The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963 film)
* The Disorderly Orderly (Jerry Lewis)
* The Golden Child
* The Holiday (2006)
* The Invisible Boy (1957)
* The Last Tycoon
* The Loved One
* The Mentalist (Season 1 Episode 21 "Miss Red")
* The Muppets (Kermit's mansion)
* The Prestige
* The Puppet Masters
* The Social Network
* The Trouble with Angels (various outside shots)
* The Vampire Diaries (promotional photoshoot)
* The West Wing (Season 1 Episode 7 "The State Dinner")
* The Witches of Eastwick
* The Young and the Restless
* There Will Be Blood[4]
* Turn to You (The Go-Go's music video)
* What Women Want (Lauren Holly's character's wedding site)
* Winter Kills
* X-Men

## References[edit]

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. ^ a b c d e f g McNamara, Mary (November 12, 2002). "Such beauty and light could chase away the castle ghosts". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
3. ^ a b c Timme, Katherine. "The History of Greystone". Archived from the original on 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
4. ^ a b c d e Hobart, Christy (2007-12-27). "At Greystone, there will be 'Blood' -- and bowling". Los Angeles Times. pp. F1, F4.
5. ^ "Californians and the Military: The Forgotten Bagman of Teapot Dome: Edward 'Ned' Laurence Doheny, Jr". Militarymuseum.org. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
6. ^ "Greystone Mansion & Gardens: The Doheny Estate". City of Beverly Hills, California. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
7. ^ Singleton, Edward (9 March 2017). "These are the 20 Best Parks Los Angeles Has to Offer". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
8. ^ Sanderson, Peter (2007). The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. New York City: Pocket Books. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-1-4165-3141-8.
9. ^ "Doheny Mansion – Visiting (819) – Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University".

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greystone Mansion.

* Greystone Mansion Website
* Archived Greystone Mansion Website
* Friends of Greystone Website

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