Goldstein donates “Big Lebowski” house to LACMA

Lautner house
The Sheats-Goldstein house (credit: jamesfgoldstein.com)

James F. Goldstein, who bought the John Lautner-designed Sheats-Goldstein house in 1972 and has spent decades renovating and expanding it, will donate it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the L.A. Times reports.

In addition to the triangular house, which sits in the hills of Beverly Crest and has glass walls with insane views, the donation includes an endowment of $17 million for property maintenance, a piece of artwork by James Turrell and a building adjacent the main property that houses an office and a nightclub.

The museum has estimated the total value of the gift at $40 million, a figure which Goldstein said was “conservative.”

 

In my office. Shot by @koreenodiney Portrait by @biagioblack #sheatsgoldsteinresidence

A photo posted by James F. Goldstein [OFFICIAL] (@jamesfgoldstein) on

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The museum will organize limited tours of the space while Goldstein is still living in it, giving visitors the hopes of glimpsing the real estate investor the Times described as “a reliable courtside presence at Lakers and Clippers games for decades, typically wearing outfits by Galliano or Versace, his long white hair tucked under a snakeskin hat of his own design.”

LACMA ultimately plans to use the space for fundraisers, exhibitions and conferences.

In the Coen brothers film “The Big Lebowski,” the home belongs to a pornographer and loan shark played by Ben Gazzara. [LAT] – Hannah Miet