Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion. . , Doheny Greystone Estate, an estate built by Edward L. Doheny Jr. Designed by Gordon Kaufmann. Landscape by Paul Thiene. Beverly Hills Historic Landmark No. 4. Built 1928. Designated 2013. Beverly Hills City Council and Cultural Heritage Commission, City of Beverly Hills. , second panel: , The Mansion , The Greystone Mansion land parcel and original 415 acres was the largest family estate in the history of Beverly Hills. In 1971, the Mansion and grounds were formally dedicated as a City of Beverly Hills public park. Originally, the grounds surrounding Greystone Mansion included a lake, babbling brooks and cascading waterfalls. Greystone was designed by renowned Southern California architect Gordon B. Kaufman and constructed by the P.J. Walker Company. The landscape architect was Paul G. Thiene who used a potpourri of Gothic and neoclassic architectural styles. , The Story of Greystone Estate , Edward Lawrence Doheny, original proprietor of the Greystone land, was born in 1856, in the small Midwestern town of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. By the time he was a young teen, Doheny's adventuresome spirit and love of the wilderness led him to prospecting for gold, and soon thereafter, oil. In 1892, Doheny and his friend Charles A. Canfield were the first to strike oil in Los Angeles. They later discovered large deposits in Mexico which, combined with their California holdings, made them the largest producers of oil in the world. Doheny and his wife Carrie Louella Wilkins had two children. Their first, a daughter named Eileen, passed on at age seven. On November. 6, 1893, they gave birth to their only son, Edward "Ned" Lawrence Doheny, Jr. Soon after the birth of Ned, Doheny and Carrie Louella Wilkins separated. Shortly thereafter, Doheny married Carrie Estelle Betzold and they raised Ned together. Ned married Lucy Smith of Pasadena in June, 1914. In 1925, as a gift to their son, Doheny Senior gave Ned and his family a 12.58 acre parcel of land and built the Mansion. The land and Mansion became the site of Greystone Estate, where Ned, Lucy and their five children lived. , Facts and Figures , Construction of Greystone Mansion began on February 15, 1927. The original cost to construct Greystone's entire estate was $3,166,780. Ned, Lucy and their five children moved into the Mansion in September, 1928. The grounds housed many features such as kennel, tennis courts, a fire station, swimming pool and a greenhouse. There are 55 livable rooms within the 46,000 square feet of living space in the Mansion. The structure of Greystone Mansion was built of steel reinforced concrete, faced with Indiana limestone and is roofed of Welsh slate. After Ned's early death in 1929, Lucy re-married financial investor Leigh Battson. Together, they lived at the Greystone Estate until 1954 when they sold the majority of the property to the Paul Trousdale Corporation. in 1955, the Mansion and remaining 18.3 acres of land were sold to Henry Crown of the Park-Grey Corporation of Chicago, for $1,500,000. The Mansion remained vacant until 1965 when the City of Beverly Hills purchased the estate for $1,100,000. The City of Beverly Hills built a 19-million gallon reservoir on the property, and dedicated the site as a public park in 1971. In 1976, Greystone Estate was recognized as a historic landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. , A Popular Filming Location , Since the late 1950’s, Greystone Estate has been a prime filming location for the local entertainment industry. Hundreds of motion pictures, television movies and series, commercials and music videos have been shot at the Park. A sampling of some of the feature films shot at Greystone Estate includes: National Treasure II, Star Trek 2, Spiderman I and III, The Muppets, The Social Network, X-Men, Batman and Robin, There will be Blood, Indecent Proposal, The Bodyguard, The Witches of Eastwick, and Ghostbusters.