Samuel Goldwyn Estate
The Samuel Goldwyn Estate is a house at 1200 Laurel Lane in Beverly Hills, California. It was designed by American architects Douglas Honnold and George Vernon Russell for Polish-American film producer Samuel Goldwyn and American actress Frances Howard, finishing construction in 1934. The property was owned by the Goldwyn family until 2015, when it was purchased and subsequently renovated by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.
Samuel Goldwyn Estate
Goldwyn and Howard held several social gatherings at the house, with guests including Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Frank Capra, Katharine Hepburn, Irving Berlin, Ginger Rogers, Jock Whitney, Lucille Ball, Eleanor Roosevelt, Norma Shearer, and Harpo Marx. The house was made a National Historic Landmark in 2017, and hosts Swift's recording studio, Kitty Committee Studio, set up in April 2020.
History[edit]
Goldwyn family[edit]
The estate is one of three lots on Laurel Lane in Beverly Hills. Berg describes Laurel Lane as a "knoll off Coldwater Canyon".[2] The first lot was occupied by film director Wesley Ruggles, and the second would remain unoccupied for several decades. The actress Frances Howard, Goldwyn's wife, noticed the available third lot of 2.5 acres (1.0 ha), and persuaded her husband to purchase it.[5] Among the reasons that prompted the Goldwyns to move was the desirability and social cachet of the Beverly Hills address and the lack of a projector room in their West Hollywood house.[6]