Last week, while I was visiting my pal photographer Rocky Schenck, who has a great mission-style home in Beechwood Canyon, we were admiring the view at sunset. He pointed out a beautiful property across the canyon, that we had admired before and said, “Andy Samberg bought Moorcrest!” My response was “Wha?” A few years earlier looking at the same view, he told me that house used to be Charlie Chaplin‘s and wondered what it looked like today. I researched pics online and sent him a link. As you can see here, the opulent restored residence combines several styles, from Moorish to Art Nouveau and Mission. The light-flooded atrium with a domed glass ceiling is crazy-beautiful and the pool with it’s own grotto and a stepping-stone path looks more like a movie set than anyone’s residence. The house was designed by Marie Russak Hotchener, a rare-for-the-time female architect who designed several buildings for the Theosophist community, Krotona. Moorcrest is considered one of her most famous works, and the phrase, “they don’t build ‘em like this anymore” fits perfectly. The seller, Andrew Meieran the producer/nightlife impressario, has been slowly fixing up the Downtown LA’s Clifton and he also owns The Edison. He put a LOT of work (and $$$) into restoring this mini-palace. Samberg, and girlfriend Joanna Newsom, reportedly bought the property in an off-market deal for $6.25 million, which, looking at these pics, seems like some kind of steal.
