Pickfair

Pick fair is the name of an estate in Beverly Hills, California, in the United States. The building was constructed in 1919 by architect Wallace Neff, California ( 1895-1982 ) and is under the address 1143 Summit Drive. After 1988, the building was largely demolished and replaced by a new building.

Name

Pick Fair is a portmanteau of the surnames of the two first owner Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. The original building was built in 1919 and was often a meeting place of high society of Hollywood. Mary Pickford had given the film business in Hollywood a social order and ruled by their judgments about taste and decency; her estate was therefore also called the "second White House ."

History

The two silent film actor acquired the property, including a house of Diane Maust, great-granddaughter of the owner Lee Philips, in 1919 at a cost of $ 35,000 and had it converted to a 22 -room villa with pool and roof terrace. The planning was the architect Wallace Neff. Inside were represented ceiling paintings and other forms of art. The size of the land amounted to 60,000 sqm at this time. Pick Fair was the scene of many parties, on which some personalities were invited. These included Albert Einstein, HG Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Amelia Earhart, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Lord and Lady Mountbatten and Hollywood stars like Charlie Chaplin, Tom Mix and Rudolph Valentino. An invitation to pick fair was a sign of social acceptance in Hollywood. Jeanine Basinger writes in "Silent Stars": Everything Doug and Mary did in Pick fair was not only legendary, but very important ( hard-core important) in this business.

In the 1930s Pick fair was extended by two wings. Here, too, took Wallace Neff planning. The villa now had 42 rooms. As Pickford and Fairbanks is divorced in 1936, Pick fair remained in the possession of Mary Pickford, who married Charles Rogers. Pickford died in 1979. The property stood empty for several years. Pickfords husband Rogers sold Pick fair for $ 5.4 million to Jerry Buss, owner of the LA Lakers.

1988 was the property for sale again. Acquired it was from Meshulam Riklis businessman and his wife Pia Zadora for the price of $ 6.7 million. According Zadora the pillars of the house of termite infested, so that a demolition was necessary and the old Pick fair only the pool, the entrance and the north wing were left .. After the divorce of the couple, the property was in 2005 for around 17.7 million U.S. dollars to the current owners, the Koreans Corry Hong, sold. Hong built the mansion into a hotel.