Thomas Mann’s custom home marketed as a teardown – preservationists need not apply

Thomas Mann and his commissioned house at 1550 San Remo Drive (Credit: Coldwell Banker)
Thomas Mann and his commissioned house at 1550 San Remo Drive (Credit: Coldwell Banker)

Writer Thomas Mann’s J.R. Davidson-designed former residence is now on the market for $15 million. But despite its august history, the property is being promoted as a teardown.

Marketing materials for International Style abode , where the Nobel Prize-winning author lived throughout the 1940s, emphasize its secluded location and expansive lot — with no mention of its illustrious former proprietor.

“Create your dream estate or remodel and expand the existing home in the ultra-exclusive upper Riviera neighborhood,” the Coldwell Banker listing reads.

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The agent, Joyce Rey, told the L.A. Times that the true value of the property is the land, despite its design provenance.

“The value is not really in the architecture, I would say,” she said. She added that the seller isn’t interested in welcoming preservationists and journalists to the house.

Mann, a German immigrant, and his wife commissioned the residence from architect J.R. Davidson in 1941. Although it’s not technically designated as a historic-cultural monument, it is listed as a “historic resource” by SurveyLA, another arm of the city’s Office of Historic Resources. [LAT]Cathaleen Chen