The Judy Garland House

One of LA’s classic celebrity homes has just come on the market. The Bel-Air home that Judy Garland bought in 1938 – the same year she was signed to star in The Wizard of Oz– is for sale at $11.5 million. Built by architect-to-the-stars Wallace Neff, who also designed homes for Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Fredric March, and Charlie Chaplin, Judy lived in the home for several years along with her mother and sisters.

Located in one of Bel-Air’s most prestigious neighborhoods and near the Bel-Air Country Club and the Getty Art Museum, the traditional-style home is tucked behind tall hedges on over two acres of lush landscaping and manicured topiaries. Clearly a showplace when it was built in the 1930s and featured in several of the most prominent home magazines such as Architectural Digest, the two-story white home and grounds are still a showplace with its circular-gated driveway, prestigious location, and timeless design.

The 5,513-square-foot home includes five en-suite bedrooms and six-and-a-half baths. Although the home has been meticulously updated, it still retains many of the 1930’s classic Old Hollywood features such as the curved staircase and iron railing from the entry foyer to the second floor. The home has a generously sized living room, several fireplaces, a sunroom, dark hardwood floors, a large bay window, molded walls, and a touch of Art Deco ambiance. There is an extra-large chef’s kitchen with a marble island and top-of-the-line appliances, dining room, office, dressing room, dual walk-in closets, and several conversation areas.

The home’s exterior is just as impressive as the interior with its tree-framed entrance, backyard rolling grass hills, large brick-lined patio for entertaining friends or large groups, a unique vine-covered railing and brick steps that transverse the rolling hills, more trees, hedges and topiaries, and an extravagant in-ground pool. The backyard truly creates a space of peace and tranquility, perfect for an afternoon of quiet relaxation or an evening with friends. A backyard writer’s cottage is original to the home with built-in cabinets and a fireplace and makes a perfect work-from-home studio or could be converted into a guest home.

Judy was born in 1922 as Frances Ethel Gumm and got her start in show business as a vaudeville child performer with her sisters in the group The Gumm Sisters. She signed with MGM at just age 16 and soon became one of their top stars in The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me In St. Louis and Easter Parade. Later in her career, Judy received Academy Award nominations for her performances in A Star Is Born and Judgement at Nuremberg. Her famous co-stars included Micky Rooney, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Judy was one of Hollywood’s most versatile stars as an actress, Grammy Award-winning recording artist, and record-setting concert performer in England, Las Vegas and New York. Judy was the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the film industry but went through years of alcohol, drug and mental issues. She died at age 47 in London from an accidental drug overdose.

The home is listed with Josh Flagg from Compass. Photos are by Paul Barnaby.