Lavish Los Angeles estate where Ronald was told 'Congratulations, you're President of the United States'
By Candace Taylor • March 9, 2016
Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s longtime property in Pacific Palisades, Calif.—where Mr. Reagan was famously showering when he learned he’d won the 1980 presidential election—is going on the market for $33 million.
The Reagans’ home no longer stands. In its place is a newly built, roughly 10,000-square-foot spec house with five bedrooms plus staff quarters. In addition to a gym and a 2,000-bottle temperature-controlled wine room, the estate has a powder room lined with peacock feathers. The roughly 2,000-square-foot master suite has a dedicated luggage closet as well as a shoe closet that holds 365 pairs. The property, with views of the ocean and the city skyline, also has a heated pool, a guest house and two garages, one of which is a glass fronted “show garage” with a bar and Kegerator that dispenses beer.
According to the developers, Janus Cercone and Michael Manheim of Jaman Properties, the Reagans inspired elements of the home’s design: It has a screening room; the original home had a projection booth. The new home also incorporates some items they salvaged from the Reagans’ house, such as the bar from the Reagans’ living room. The developers also kept the door of the shower Mr. Reagan was using when he learned he’d won the election, restored it and installed it in a bathroom off the library, with a plaque explaining its significance. (Mr. Reagan was showering when he heard about his victory because it came hours earlier than expected.) Off the library is a garden planted with roses named after presidents and first ladies.
“We wanted to take the spirit of the way the Reagans lived in this house originally and the way they lived in the White House and create a contemporary vision of a home where that same spirit could express itself,” Ms. Cercone said.
When the Reagans built their home in the late 1950s, Mr. Reagan was a host of the television show “General Electric Theater” and was also GE’s corporate ambassador. GE filled the single-story house with then-cutting edge appliances, such as an electric garbage disposal, Mrs. Reagan wrote in her 2000 book, “I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan.” The couple sold the house in 1982 after moving to the White House.
After leaving the White House, the Reagans divided their time between the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles and their ranch in Santa Barbara. Mr. Reagan died in 2004 after battling Alzheimer’s disease. Mrs. Reagan died Sunday at age 94.
The current owners bought the property in 2013 for $5.211 million. They originally hoped to renovate and expand the midcentury modern house, Ms. Cercone said, but city building codes wouldn’t let them. They spent about three years building the new house. The city didn’t return a call seeking comment; the Reagan family could not be reached for comment.
Kurt Rappaport – Westside Estate Agency – Cell: 310.995.3214 – kr@weahomes.com