Beverly Hills Mansion Formerly Owned By Ellen & Portia Hits the Market for $34M

This private, massively gated, historic Beverly Hills mansion has a star-studded list of former residents nearly as long as the credits in an Oceans XX film (including Ellen Degeneres and Kelly Wearstler), and just hit the market for a whopping $34 million.

The classic five-bedroom residence was built in the 1950s for Diane and Charles Skouras Jr., part owner and president of a major movie theater group, according to Page Six, who report that public records show it stayed in the Skouras family until 2002, when the estate was sold for just over $4 million to celebrity interior designer Kelly Wearstler and her husband, property developer and hotelier Brad Korzen.

Wearstler, known for her larger-than-life interiors and maximalist aesthetic, then gut renovated the mansion in her signature style, the results of which were featured in this 2009 slideshow (linked), “saving the property from demolition” as she then told Vogue.

Built in 1956 in Beverly Hills’ Trousdale Estates neighborhood by Hal Leavitt, the Skouras residence is revered as a celebrity magnet, according to Architectural Digest — which noted that DeGeneres featured several shots of the Skouras residence in her coffee table book, Home, after purchasing the property in 2012 for $17.4 million. Ellen and her wife, Portia deRossi, then sold the Skouras house to Spyglass Entertainment co-founder Roger Birnbaum, who is now listing the estate for a whopping $34 million.

The property measures nearly an acre in size and offers grand views of the hills, the city, and the ocean beyond, according to Realtor.com. It features a sunny pool and lounge area with a bar and barbecue, and a number of private swimming and sunning areas — not to mention those stunning, light-filled, open-plan interiors designed by Wearstler. A-list features include a master bedroom with en-suite courtyard and fountain, as well as a library, games room, music room, gym, and gleaming floor-to-ceiling stainless steel chef’s kitchen.

Since Ellen sold to Birnbaum, the house has rented for around $50,000 per month, but mid-March it was taken off the market and “whisper listed” for sale to the tune of $34 million, according to Variety.