Modern Brentwood Manse Seeks Buyer for Nearly $17 Million

A Brentwood home with a Hollywood pedigree and architectural acclaim is heading to market.

The nearly 9,000-square-foot manse at 645 Tuallitan Road has been listed for just under $16.5 million, Mansion Global reported.

The home was built in 1992 and commissioned by Oscar-winning screenwriter Tom Schulman, best known for movies like “Dead Poets Society,” “Indecent Proposal” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” Modernist architect Steven Ehrlich designed the property and went on to win the AIA National Award for Architecture a few years after the home was built.

Schulman sold the property to architectural preservationist Michael LaFetra in 2014 for $10.5 million. LaFetra has restored homes designed by California modernist heavyweights including John Lautner, Richard Neutra and R.M. Schindler. He was living in a Frank Gehry-designed home before upsizing to the Brentwood property.

“I was looking for something that had architectural thrill, but not as dangerously thrilling as Frank Gehry,” LaFetra told Mansion Global. LaFetra largely left the design intact, limiting upgrades to infrastructure improvements like solar panels, water filtration and system overhauls.

The six-bedroom home sits on 1.3 acres and boasts two residential wings framing a central core that includes a double-height living room, dining room and kitchen opening onto the grounds. A pool is tucked into one corner of the property, leaving a large stretch of lawn that could accommodate additional amenities or event space. At one point, LaFetra drew up plans for either a pool house or waterfall feature in the backyard but decided against building.

The large lot size, complete with a sizable backyard, could be a major selling point, according to Douglas Elliman listing agent Cory Weiss. “The amount of land is a statement piece,” Weiss told Mansion Global. “You’re not going to find this kind of scale, setting and architecture on the market today.”

The luxury market in Southern California has seen a relatively quiet spring for sales, The Real Deal previously reported. The comparative dearth of activity has led to a string of price cuts across the region and fewer eye-popping sales prices. — Chris Malone Méndez