This Mulholland Drive manse is now off the market.
One of Los Angeles’ most revered midcentury properties, known as the Garcia House, has found a new owner after listing for the first time in 20 years.
Last sold in 2002, the dreamy “Jetsons”-esque John Lautner-designed gem has been purchased to the tune of $12.5 million, $3.5 million less than the $16 million it listed for in January.
The buyer, sources told the Wall Street Journal, is Nicholas C. Pritzker, a member of the Pritzker family, whose multibillion-dollar fortune is significantly thanks to the Hyatt Corp. hotel chain.
The property — which had a cameo in the 1989 buddy cop sequel “Lethal Weapon 2” — was built by the late great Lautner in 1962 and sits atop 60-foot-high stilts
Although listing photos show that the interior remains a retro time capsule, longtime owners William Damaschke and John McIlwee (a Broadway producer and a Hollywood business manager, respectively) have invested more than $1 million toward renovations and restorations during the course of their two decades there.
These changes include the addition of a privacy fence on the transparent, glass side of the house and, in 2008, the construction of a pool that was part of Lautner’s original design, The Post previously reported.
The 2,600-square-foot home also features stained glass windows, a lava rock entryway, original terrazzo flooring and its iconic parabolic roof with a 30-foot-high curved ceiling and 55-foot walls of windows, some with stained glass.
The maintenance of the uniquely shaped, elevated house as a historic time capsule is so important to the pair that it factored into who they decided to sell it to.
“We chose to pass on other offers because we wanted someone that shared our common goal of preservation and integrity,” McIlwee told the Journal via email. “As for price, we feel like it was totally appropriate for the house and confirms architecture as art.”
He and Damaschke purchased the three-bedroom, three-bathroom property from actor Vincent Gallo for $1.2 million.
The listing was jointly held by Weston Littlefield, Aaron Kirman and Dalton Gomez of AKG | Christie’s International Real Estate.
