Rudolph Valentino’s Falcon Lair for Sale
TheStreet.com reports that Rudolph Valentino’s mansion, Falcon Lair, located in the hills above Benedict Canyon overlooking Beverly Hills, is up for sale — for those who can shell out US$7.95 million. Valentino, the star of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Sheik, bought the house for $175,000 (approx. $2 million adjusting for inflation) in 1925. Billionairess Doris Duke owned the house for nearly five decades, though the property was eventually bought from the Duke estate.
Nicholas Yulico’s article explains that “The current owner says he has spent millions transforming the house since purchasing it in 1998. Renovations are still under way. From the outside, the house will look roughly the same as when Valentino had it built in the 1920s, highlighted by its Mediterranean stucco and red tile roof. But the interior is undergoing significant updating.”
Falcon Lair was to be Valentino’s “retreat from public life, his castle and the palace to share with his lady love, Natacha Rambova,” explains Donna Hill on her Valentino website. “Sadly, as fate would have it, this retreat in Bel Air would not be the home for Rudy and Natacha he envisioned. She divorced him shortly after he bought the property.”
Rudolph Valentino (above, with Gloria Swanson in Beyond the Rocks), one of the biggest silent-film stars, died in 1926 at the age of 31.
Addendum: Falcon Lair was bulldozed in 2006. One more piece of Los Angeles history that has literally gone to dust. According to Donna, "only the outer gates/fence structure and garage area remain extant and recognizable from Valentino’s time."
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Tags: Donna Hill, Doris Duke, Falcon Lair, Los Angeles Star Homes, Natacha Rambova, Rudolph Valentino, Silent Films
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7 Responses to “Rudolph Valentino’s Falcon Lair for Sale”
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I know my opinion isn’t worth anything since I did not have the money to buy,
“falcon lair.” However, I don’t understand why the person who purchased the house stated that he liked it because it was liveable, than proceded to tear it down. As a lover of history, antiques and old houses this always sickens me. I wish hollywood would start doing more to protect some of these old historic mansions.
When are people going to wake up and realize their history is in danger.I don’t understand the tear down craze and never will.Our older homes have a quality and presence which lets us go back in time and have a learning experience far beyond what a book can give us.
i filmed the place when they torn it down the only thing they kept was the fireplace. i cried they left the left side known as the stable alone as far as iv last seen i met doris there and her butler. im a fan i own property at hollywood cemetery where rudy is buried and the street in front
I am horrified by the tear down of historical places like Falcon Lair and Pickfair. It too sickens me. One thing I have noticed about Hollywood and Southern California in general: they don’t value the great Hollywood history. If this occurred anywhere else in the country or in Northern California, you would have several museums filled with old film history, wardrobes, artifacts, etc. But no one here has that value or insight or the ones that do, like me don’t have the money. I can’t believe there isn’t one decent museum with all of our film/hollywood history. Unless I am missing something. The only thing I have seen that has come close to preserving some history is the Max Factor Museum and I can guarantee that will be gone before we know it, if it isn’t already. Such a shame. Such a loss. If I had had the money, I would have purchased Pickfair and made it a museum, a landmark where everyone from around the nation and the world could celebrate our great silver screen history.
i filmed at FALCON LAIR for my “silent” film RETURN TO BABYLON. the film is a tribute to the stories of the silent movie stars of the day.
i was quite saddened to know that this icon of architecture has been torn down.
*alex monty canawati
One day while watching SUNSET BOULEVARD I suddenlly
had a thought: What if it had been a young Ste-
phen Spielberg who’d happened into Norma Desmond’s
property. Would he have called her a has-been, her
friends “relics” or disdainfully looked at her past,but glorious career!!! CERTAINLY NOT!
He’d have had every one of Norma’s scrapbooks out,
spread across the floor, taking notes, asking end-
less questions of her—writing everything she said down, and absolutely basking in the film history she was providing him…all the while,
contemplating the great film he’d make about her
life in the glory days of film.
Like everyone else, I was saddened to hear of the
loss of Falcon Lair–truly a piece of Hollywood
history. I hope that someone had the good sense
to save the scrap lumber—so that some of it can
be sold on the collector market! I personally
would buy even a small piece of concrete from
that mansion.
I think the show was called haunted hollywood. They would show it at halloween. it was a tour of hollywood homes that were haunted.They would interview the people that lived in the homes. I remember the guy(at the time)that owned falcons lair. he proudly gave a tour of the home and told of the things he saw. I wish he would have sold the home to someone who promised to preserve and love it as he did. It’s sad…we are losing our history, our stories. all for mcmansions that have the warmth of stone cold cement.