Villa de Leon — Attraction in Los Angeles

One of L.A’s most misidentified buildings - The Villa Leon has been a Southern California landmark ever since its completion some eighty-five years ago, and it is frequently confused for the nearby Getty Museum, which lies directly to its north. Named after its original builder, Austrian native Leon Kauffman, the Villa Leon was the result of a longstanding promise Kauffman had made to his wife Clemence that, if he ever had the money, he would build for her a dream castle by the sea. A fortune made in the wool processing business in California during the First World War allowed Kauffman to make good on his promise and, after purchasing an impressive six-lot parcel above the famous Castle and Haystack Rock formations, Kauffman began construction of his $1,000,000 dream house in 1926.

In his design of the Villa Leon, prominent Los Angeles architect Kenneth A. MacDonald, Jr., made the most of the site’s awe-inspiring vistas, orienting the home so that nearly all of its thirty-five rooms had a stunning view of the ocean, the surrounding mountains or a combination of both.

The Kauffmans only enjoyed their fabulous seaside villa for a few short years. Clemence died in 1933, followed by her husband just two years later. For nearly twenty years, the grand villa and its numerous art treasures sat unoccupied, except for a solitary caretaker.

During this period, several attempts to sell the house were made, most notably in 1949 when the Aly Kahn considered it as a honeymoon home for himself and his new bride Rita Hayworth; however this, like the others, did not come to pass. When it was finally put up for auction in 1952, the Villa Leon, which cost a reputed million dollars to build, sold, exclusive of furnishings, for a mere $71,000. Fortunately for the Villa Leon, its new owners, as well as those who followed, treasured it as much as Leon Kauffman had. In the mid-2000s, it sold for...

Why the heck doesn't the Getty Foundation buy out this property already so it becomes part of the Getty Center-Villa and we can have some peace of mind irregardless. It's like with the word 'irregardless' -- if enough people use wrong, ugly words, you might as well give in, give up and put them in the dictionary. My favorite is...

it’s a big old villa that everyone thinks is the getty villa because of the sign on pch but it’s honestly just an eyesore and has been under...