WHO: Ashlee SimpsonLOCATION: Beverly Hills (Post Office), CA
PRICE: Don't know
SIZE: 4,193 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Almost as soon as "singer" and "actress" Ashlee Simpson's nepotistic fame turned into fortune she developed a mad appetite for an a-lister sized mansion.
In June 2005 Miss Simpson threw down a very grown up $4,500,000 for a substantial gated estate in Encino, CA with a 9,000-plus square foot contemporary crib. Reports from the time show the vast house included a meditation room, a gym with skylights and ballet barre, a sauna and a 2,200 square master suite with a 700-square foot closet. She was just 21 years old.
The young and fickle Miss Simpson only owned the huge house in Encino until October 2006 when she sold the 4 bedroom and 7 pooper pad for $5,700,000 to a Hawaiian businessman who earned a fortune from convalescent homes. That's right, pets, beehawtcha Simpson walked away with a million two in profits (before costs and fees). Not bad for a lip synching sensation with no prior real estate experience. Miss Simpson's real estate luck was, however, about to run bone dry.
The following year, in January 2007, Miss Simpson plunked down $4,500,000 for a somewhat smaller but still gigantic 7,100 square foot mock-Med on star-studded Oak Pass Road in the Beverly Hills Post Office. The house, built in 1992, had once been owned by comedienne Rita Rudner.
In January 2010, amid rumors that she and musician hubby Pete Wentz were looking to buy or build a new house, she put her Oak Pass Road residence on the market. We can't exactly recall but we think it was listed for just under five million clams, but don't nobody quote Your Mama on that figure. By April 2011 price tag had plummeted to $3,699,000 and her short marriage to Mister Wentz had done swirled down the Tinseltown Terlit of Love. The Simpson-Wentz's mock-Med manse was sold in June 2011 for, according to Redfin, $3,475,000. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that poor Miss Simpson, a gal whose once electric career has been on a serious down slope the last few years, lost a pocketbook punishing $1,025,000 on her real estate change of heart, not counting carrying costs, renovations, day-core and the fat real estate commissions she paid upon the sale.
Miss Simpson seems to Your Mama all but irrelevant on the celebrity scene anymore–we aren't being cruel, we're just being honest–but we have none-the-less been shocked and surprised by how many queries we've received about where Little Miss Simpson decamped.
In May there were rumors that ran through the gossip rags that Miss Simpson was peeping at properties in the Beverly Hills area, properties far more modest in size and cost than her previous residences including a Spanish stucco cottage on North Beverly Drive with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and an asking price of $1,395,000. She did not, according to property records buy that house.
In fact, according to two of Your Mama's sources, Miss Simpson didn't buy a house at all but rather leased gated house in the Beverly Hills Post Office that hangs over famed Mulholland Drive and has a history of Tinseltown residents. In the late 1990s the house was acquired for $1,625,000 by actress Maria Bello (ER, Coyote Ugly, Thank Your for Smoking, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) and her then man-friend and entertainment industry executive baby daddy Dan McDermott.
Property records show Miss Bello and Mister McDermott sold the house in September 2004 to Emmy nominated writer/director/producer Danny Cannon (CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dark Blue, Nikita) and his actress wife Nicole Cannon (CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dark Blue). At some point–we're not sure when–the Cannon's put the property on the market for both sale and lease. Despite that Redfin shows the property was put into escrow in April 2011 none of Your Mama does not at this point find any records of a property transfer indicating that Miss Simpson leases the property rather than owns.
Listing information for the ridge top residence that Your Mama teased out of the interweb shows the house was built in the 1930s as a hunting lodge and has since been updated and upgraded. Listing information shows it measures 4,193 square feet and includes a total of 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.
The capacious living room has a steeply pitched wood ceiling with exposed wood beams, shiny oak floors, wood trimmed doorways and windows, a two-sided fireplace with carved wood and mirror mantel, a pass-through wet bar that opens into the adjacent kitchen, and a giant 25-pane window with long views over the San Fernando Valley all the way to the mountains that form the far northern limits of the Los Angeles suburbs. Other rooms include a formal dining area, office, family room, and an intimately-scaled library paneled in knotty pine and lined with wood bookshelves.
The large eat-in kitchen has knotty pine tongue-and-groove paneling, exposed wood ceiling, hardwood floors–that are, sadly, not the same oak style as in the rest of the house–a built-in banquette breakfast table, a wet bar with green tiled counter tops, and French doors that open to the rear terrace, swimming pool and valley views. The kitchen cooker itself has sand-colored granite counter tops, honey-colored wood cabinetry, green tile back splash and high-grade commercial-style stainless steel appliances. A fireplace with green and black mosaic tile surround is a nice homey touch to the Arts & Crafts-y but sophisticated space.
Listing information shows that one of the four bedrooms is on the main level while the second floor contains two family/guest rooms plus an expansive master suite a large bedroom/sitting room with oak floors, dressing area with built-in mirrored wardrobes, and private terrace with city lights view. The pleasantly large bathroom features a vaulted ceiling with exposed beams and mixes the country comfort of a claw-footed tub with modern amenities such as double sinks, glass and tile steam shower and terlit cubby. A glittery crystal chandelier gives the bathroom a punch of glitz and glam.
The grounds include a gated motor court, grassy pad perfect for a celebrity-style jungle gym, swimming pool, spa and dining and lounging terraces with direct and unimpeded views over the valley.
Apparently Miss Simpson is hard at work on a new album–whoo-pee!–and plans to launch a tween fashion line with her pop star turned turned reality tee-vee star turned fashion mogul sister Jessica.
listing photos: Michael Andrew McNamara Photography for Sotheby's International Realty
