Beverly Hills Has its Very Own Storybook “Witch’s House”

Amidst the flamboyant white mansions and palladian columns, Beverly Hills has a legitimate witch’s house called “The Spadena House.” The house was built by Harry Oliver, an Oscar-nominated art director, in 1921 to serve as the offices and dressing rooms for a film studio in Culver City. It appeared in several silent films in the ’20s and ’30s until it was moved to the corner of Carmelita and Walden in 1924.

The witch’s house serves as a prime example of storybook architecture with its whimsical style. It has a functioning moat, overgrown English style landscaping, and uneven stucco roofing designed to slope like a witch’s hat. The house was also a pre-curser for Disney’s imagineering construction seen in their theme parks.

By 1997, the house was purchased for $1.3M by Michael Libow, a real estate agent. Libow bought this house because other agents were planning on purchasing the property to tear it down. The Witch’s house is now an official Beverly Hills landmark. Libow gradually renovated the house with the help of Hollywood art director Nelson Coates. And yes, he actually lives there!

Today, the house is still famous after making an appearance in the 1995 film Clueless. The interior is not open to the public, but it is certainly worth getting out of your car to photograph! See below for more photos and a video tour of the interior.

For more on Los Angeles, check out our roundup of the most prominent architecture in downtown LA and a sunken graffiti “atlantis” from a neighborhood that sank into the ocean.