The Beverly Hills-area home of Ziegfeld girl-turned-Hollywood hostess Jean Howard, who died in March at 89, has been sold for about $1.5 million to Merton Shapiro, a former Philadelphia businessman who owned a string of movie theaters, and his wife, Barbara. They just sold their ranch in Santa Barbara in the $10-million range.
Howard, once the wife of powerful Hollywood agent Charles K. Feldman, entertained Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and other legends at the house, which she and Feldman purchased in 1942.
Howard turned her photos into the books "Jean Howard's Hollywood" (1989) and "Travels With Cole Porter" (1991). She was a friend of the composer and his wife.
Built in 1935, the Spanish-style house in Coldwater Canyon has three bedrooms and staff quarters in about 4,500 square feet. The house also has a large pool.
Kay Pick of Coldwell Banker Previews, Beverly Hills North, had the listing. Asher Dann of the same office represented the Shapiros in buying their new home and selling their ranch.
A Bel-Air home designed by the late architect Gordon B. Kaufmann and built in 1926 has been listed at $7.7 million.
Although Kaufman designed many homes in Southern California, it is unusual for one to come on the market, real estate sources said.
Kaufman, who died in 1949 at age 61, designed the Athenaeum at Caltech, the Palladium ballroom in Hollywood, one of the L.A. Times buildings, the grandstand and clubhouse at Santa Anita Park and the 37,000-square-foot city-owned former E.L. Doheny Jr. estate known as Greystone in Beverly Hills.
The Bel-Air home, which has been restored and updated, is on an acre with a pond, pool, guest house and original stables. The 6,500-square-foot main house has three bedrooms, a maid's quarters, library, loggia, screening room, wine cellar and views over the Bel-Air golf course to the city and the ocean.
Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, has the listing.
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