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Historic Dorothy Chandler Estate In Windsor Square On The Market For $50 Million
The exquisite Dorothy Chandler estate is up for sale. Located at 455 Lorraine in Windsor Square, this majestic 6-bed, 8-bath house could be yours for just $50 million. Okay, so $50 million is a lot, even for this home, which sold in the summer of 2014 for $9.5 million. The home does, however, have a rich, if convoluted, history.
The Beaux Arts-style home was initially built in 1913 for Dr. Peter Janss, who developed Westwood, by architects J. Martyn Haenke, William J. Dodd, and Hearst Castle designer Julia Morgan. (Morgan was also the first woman to become a licensed architect in the state of California.) The home became a Historic-Cultural Monument in 2007, and according to the application:
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Dorothy and her husband Norman Chandler were the most notable owners of the home and key figures in L.A. history. Dorothy Buffum was the daughter of Charles Buffum, mayor of Long Beach from 1921 to 1924, who co-founded Buffum's department store with his brother, Edwin. Dorothy would go on to meet Norman Chandler, whose family published the L.A. Times, at a Stanford dance. They married in 1922, beginning a union that would last until Norman's death in 1973. For much of that marriage, they lived in this home, which they named Los Tiempos (Spanish for 'The Times'). Chandler would live there until her death in 1997.
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Norman worked as a publisher of the Times, and Dorothy with the Times Mirror. But Dorothy is perhaps best known for her dedication to the arts. She successfully raised the funds over the course of nine years to build the L.A. Music Center in 1964, with many of those fundraisers held in Los Tiempos. She also saved the Hollywood Bowl after a temporary shutdown due to insufficient funds in 1950. In 1971, she would become the first woman in history to win the Herbert Hoover Medal for Distinguished Service.
Through Dorothy's fundraiser efforts, the estate has seen many famous guests, including Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon and Kennedy, leading some to call the estate the "Western White House."
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The home was sold to interior designers Timothy Corrigan and Kathleen Scheinfield after Dorothy's death in 1997, who later sold it to Joseph Handleman and Courtney Callahan in 2006. Handleman, the heir to a music publishing company, and Callahan, had sold their previous home to Britney Spears for $7.2 million, according to the Times, and moved into the Chandler estate, but were not happy. They sued Corrigan and Scheinfield, claiming that they were "misled" about the condition of the property. They claimed that the house came with damaged water pipes, roofs, black mold and faulty wiring. They claimed to have spent nearly $3 million in repairs, selling family heirlooms and draining a trust fund they'd set up for their son. Handleman told the court that his family had been "decimated." Despite their claims, a judge eventually decided in favor of Corrigan and Scheinfield.
There has been some more recent controversy over the condition of the home. According to a 2015 article in the Larchmont Buzz, a group known as the Windsor Square Concerned Citizens League took offense to the renovations to the home's exterior, which they said did not fit with the home's Beaux-Arts style. The home was ultimately restored to its former appearance.
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