Ultimate Homes: Inside a Sprawling Encino Compound With 4 Completely Different Places to Live
Even your barnyard pets will live in the height of luxury at this private and gated compound that sprawls over almost 2.5 acres in the prosperous heart of L.A.’s suburban Encino neighborhood.
Along with two residences and two guesthouses surrounding a private lake, the lushly landscaped world-unto-itself also includes a 1930s speakeasy and a professional recording studio. A barn, corrals and a horse turn out add to its country-in-the-middle-of-the-city charm. Altogether, there are 11 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, along with 11 fireplaces and two addresses, each with a gated entrance.
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A tree-lined gated drive leads to the six-bedroom main house, which was designed by Arthur W. Hawes and built in the 1930s. Extensively expanded over time, today it measures a whopping 10,000 square feet. Throughout are Venetian plaster walls, artisanal woodwork, custom built-ins, and soaring wood-beamed ceilings.
Just inside the front door, a prohibition-era pub has hidden panels that swing open to reveal a hidden bar. The thoroughly up-to-date kitchen is packed with European appliances and includes a separate catering kitchen for big messes and large events, while a three-story tower added by the current owner includes a lounge area with wrap round views over the neighborhood. Elsewhere are a spacious living and dining rooms, a paneled library, a game room, and an art studio. A brick-paved central courtyard has an outdoor fireplace and a fountain, and, just beyond the courtyard, there’s a 55-foot-long swimming pool set in a sunny clearing with a spa tucked off to the side, where it’s enveloped in greenery. There are also several pizza ovens and barbecues scattered about the property.
Meander over one of the wooden bridges that traverse the pond and through a wonderland of gardens to the secondary residence, a low-slung and comprehensively updated 1957 ranch-style house designed by Robert Johnson of the firm Benedict and Johnson. The home spans almost 2,800 square feet over one level. The exposed wood ceilings and asymmetrical double-sided stone fireplace were preserved in an extensive overhaul of the midcentury home, while the two-car garage is converted into a professional recording studio.
Two self-contained guest homes include a writer’s cottage set on the lushly planted shore of the pond and a bunkhouse-style barn guesthouse, both with hand-crafted flooring, vaulted ceilings and high-end kitchens.
Though the Rancho Street compound is in the heart of suburbia, the current owner has long kept alpacas and horses. And, in the last few years, a bull named Felix was added to the menagerie. And to keep the animals from roaming the estate’s manicured grounds, the barnyard area includes a stabling block and the fenced turnout.
Encino has become popular with entertainment industry a-listers who appreciate its suburban privacy and, just over the mountains from Beverly Hills, its convenient location. Selena Gomez, Machine Gun Kelly, Michael B. Jordan, and, ironically enough, a couple cast members of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills make their home in Encino and Meghan Trainor just dropped $17.1 million on DJ Zedd’s mansion, which he bought from Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner.
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