The two-block stretch of Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills between Sunset Boulevard and Benedict Canyon was once home to the biggest names in show business. Lucille Ball, James Stewart, Jack Benny, Agnes Moorehead, Ira Gershwin, Peter Falk, Rosemary Clooney, and the list went on and on. In more recent decades, Diane Keaton called the street home, and she later sold her house to Madonna.
The big-name roster of Roxbury Drive isn’t quite the same as it once was, but the echo of its past remains in the varying architecture of the houses that have survived. Now another one of those historic homes is in danger.
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“That street was just so iconic,” said Alison Martino, curator of Vintage Los Angeles whose father was singer Al Martino.
The residence at 1001 Roxbury Drive is a home that Martino said most encapsulates the area. Built in 1942 by architect Carlton L. Burgess, the more than 9,000 square foot regency revival structure sits back from the street and has a brick driveway, sidewalk and sprawling lawn on a double lot. While a name the stature of Ball or Stewart are not known to have owned the house, Martino said it could have once been the home of Walter Winchell. The property has been renovated on several occasions, including once by John Elgin Woolf. A restoration by Mark Rios won a Will Rogers award in 2015.
“It’s always been everyone’s favorite house who lives in Beverly Hills and who comes to Beverly Hills,” Martino said. “When those tour buses go up and down Roxbury, that is a house that is pointed out. Even though it hasn’t been owned by a notable celebrity, it’s not about who lived there. It’s the architecture and the stunning grounds.”
“[It is] a legacy of Beverly Hills architecture from a time of refinement before the hulking beasts of value by maximum square footage swept the city,” Leslie Barrett said in a comment on the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page. “It’s a gorgeous house and a tragedy that the new owner is wasting something dear.”
Eric Baker purchased the property in 2020 for over $39 million. The Beverly Hills native co-founded StubHub, the online ticketing giant, in 2000. He has long been based in London, founding another similar company there, Viagogo, which later purchased StubHub. Baker already has a significant footprint in Beverly Hills real estate. He owns two other properties in the flats, one of which was listed on the market not long after he purchased the home on Roxbury Drive. His parents also reside in the city.
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Baker does not intend to keep the 1001 Roxbury Drive intact, however, Martino said.
“Nobody knows what he wants to build in its place,” she added. “He has applied and been granted a certificate of ineligibility, so he can do with it what he wants.”
The certificate of ineligibility deems that a structure is historically insignificant and can be demolished.
Martino said that Beverly Hills director of community development Ryan Gohlich found that that the building did not meet the city’s definition of exceptional work by a contractor or master architect.
To qualify for protection, the home would have had to have been featured in architectural magazines or been granted awards for its design, not just for one of its renovations. The age, character or the feelings the community might have for it do not constitute preservation.
The property’s fate was debated into the early hours of the morning at the April 12 Beverly Hills City Council meeting, with community members like David Silvas, a real estate agent specializing in historic properties in Beverly Hills, speaking in support of preserving the home.
“This would be a grave mistake not to declare this property historically eligible in this community,” Silvas said. “Beverly Hills has an unfortunate track record in the preservation world of being a city that is difficult to deal with … We are giving up the history [and] the cultural context of the fabric of this community. And there’s not enough golden shields that can be manufactured to replace everything that will erode away if this keeps up.”
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Similar fates have come to other homes on Roxbury Drive over the years, including the homes occupied by James Stewart and Rosemary Clooney. While Lucille Ball’s house still sits on the same frame, the façade itself has been altered.
Resident George Milstein spoke in favor of Baker’s right to demolish the property.
“This property owner, in fact, has done everything that [they have asked] them to do and requires them to do and the certificate as issued by staff should stand,” Milstein said.
The majority of speakers, however, urged the council to reconsider the home’s historical status.
“Beverly Hills does a very poor job of historic preservation,” Jill Collins, of the Beverly Hills Cultural Heritage Commission, said. “Just think about what has been lost in recent years and the crap that has been built in its place. This is my dream house. Sometimes I drive by it and just park that imagine what it’s like inside. Seriously, this is breaking my heart. I just don’t understand what’s wrong with people. This house is part of the indelible landscape of Beverly Hills. Not just the history but the structure itself.”
“It’s a historic gem. It tells the fabric of the city. And they’re never going to be able to build anything like that ever again,” Martino said.
No final decision on the house’s fate was made at the meeting, but the City Council decided to reconsider granting the right for it to be demolished. Martino said it gave her hope that community support may help save the house.
“This is like ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and we’re all trying to be George Bailey,” she added.
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