The facade of this Brentwood home served as the Miami residence of The Golden Girls when it … [+]
Brandon Valente, Brandon V Photography
Get out the cheesecake: a mid-century home in Los Angeles that served as the exterior for cherished 1980s TV sitcom The Golden Girls has hit the market for the first time in 65 years, asking $2.999 million.
The Brentwood home dates back to 1955, when David Noble Barry III and his wife, Margaret Carr Barry, hired a notable Hawaiian architecture firm to model it after his father’s home in Honolulu.
A location scout for the show thought the home belonged in Miami and approached the family about shooting the exterior. The Barrys’ home was used in the show’s first season — interior scenes were filmed on a sound stage — and then the production used the architectural plans to rebuild the façade on a studio lot.
On the lanai: the home’s living room features high ceilings that lead out to a covered terrace.
Brandon Valente, Brandon V Photography
“They were happy to have their house used,” says the late couple’s son, James Barry.
Barry recalls how a man once asked permission to propose to his girlfriend, a Golden Girls fan, in the home’s driveway. After she accepted, Margaret Carr Barry brought out champagne. The couple later sent the family holiday cards (that presumably said, “Thank you for being a friend”).
People still mail letters addressed to Rue McClanahan, Betty White, Beatrice Arthur and Estelle Getty, the actresses who portrayed the title characters of Blanche Devereaux, Rose Nylund, Dorothy Zbornak and Sophia Petrillo, four older women living together in Miami.
The open living room features plenty of space for a comfy couch or two.
Brandon Valente, Brandon V Photography
“Mail just came recently to three of the actors saying how much they enjoy the show and how in a down moment it made them very happy,” Barry says.
The home, which is being sold in a trust, has its original kitchen, with turquoise Formica and turquoise and avocado cabinets.
The colorful kitchen is original to the 1950s home.
Brandon Valente, Brandon V Photography
Listing agent Rachelle Rosten of Douglas Elliman says the listing and its Miami style, with high beamed ceilings, oak hardwood floors and walls of glass that open to a covered patio that you could call a lanai, has generated lots of interest.
Just as the show has loyal fans of all generations, “the architecture still resonates today,” Rosten says.
“It’s a listing trifecta,” Rosten says. “It’s pristine mid-century architecture, it’s an excellent location and it’s a piece of Hollywood history.”