The eight bedroom, eight bath estate spans 14,876 square feet, and sits on more than five acres. The grounds include an outdoor pool, sprawling lawns, a golf course and pristine gardens. According to the listing, the original English Traditional main house was designed by architect Robert Finkelhor, and then remodeled in the 1950’s by architect John Elgin Woolf. It comes with a guest house, staff quarters, indoor pool and spa, billiard room, bar, and chef’s kitchen. The master suite includes his and hers bedrooms, baths, closets and a shared study.
According to the L.A. Times, Richard Nixon’s helicopter once landed on the back lawn so the president could play a round at the nearby Lakeside Golf Club, and Lucille Ball and Jack Benny drank and gossiped at the holiday parties in the living room. Hope left the home to his wife, Dolores, when he passed away in 2003, two months after his 100th birthday. When Mrs. Hope passed away in 2011, it passed to their family members under the Dolores Hope Trust.
Hope owned many homes when he passed away, which are now starting to appear on the market. The Bob Hope Estate sold a three bedroom, 2.75 bath home in Palm Springs for $480,000 on Aug. 23, 2013, and another five bedroom, 5.25 bath nearby for $725,000 on Feb. 14, 2013.
The estate is also trying to sell (off market) one of Hope’s most famous properties, a home designed by John Lautner to look like a volcano. The L.A. Times reports that it went on the market in February with an asking price of $50 million and has yet to find a buyer. The futuristic home was built in 1980 and sits on more than three acres.
For more information and photos of Bob Hope’s Toluca Lake estate, visit the listing on Redfin.com. What do you think of the home? Can you imagine Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball sipping cocktails by the pool?
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