Shonda Rhimes — the TV powerhouse behind “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” — just set a record in Hancock Park, selling her 99-year-old mansion for $21 million. It’s the priciest sale ever recorded in the tony Wilshire neighborhood.
Ironically, the record once belonged to Ted Sarandos, the Netflix CEO who brought Rhimes to the streaming service in 2017 with a massive development deal. He set the all-time high in 2015 when he paid $15.95 million for the lavish mansion of Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.
Rhimes, who’s been buying and selling homes in the tony Wilshire neighborhood for years, bought the property from “Everybody Loves Raymond” actress Patricia Heaton for $8.8 million in 2014, records show. She first listed it for $25 million last summer before trimming the price to $23 million in October.
It’s easy to see why the home set a record. The compound spans over an acre and combines two parcels on a corner lot. At the center sits a three-story mansion built 99 years ago by Elmer Grey, the prolific architect behind the Beverly Hills Hotel and Huntington Art Gallery.
Rhimes made the place her own during her seven-year stay. Working with interior designer Michael Smith, who renovated the Oval Office during Obama’s presidency, the pair got rid of the Santa Barbara mission-style facade and restored it back to the Italianate villa-style exterior originally built by Grey.
For more light, they replaced the wood front door with glass and tore the ceiling out of the first-floor loggia to create a two-story gallery. Other highlights in the nearly 12,000-square-foot home include marble floors, Venetian plaster, crown molding and glass-blown skylights.
Seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms are spread across three stories, and there’s also a formal dining room, two kitchens, a library, playroom and movie theater with a snack bar. The guesthouse adds a hair salon.
Outside, the leafy grounds feature two yards as well as a swimming pool, cabana, paddle tennis court and hidden hedged garden.
Rhimes is the founder of Shondaland, a TV production company with hits over the last two decades including “Private Practice,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” “Station 19” and “Bridgerton.” The 51-year-old inked a multi-year development deal with Netflix in 2017, and her recent expanded deal with the company will see her work on new revenue streams such as live events.
On the real estate side, she also owns a Manhattan penthouse and sold another home in Hancock Park for $7.166 million in 2019.
Ed Solorzano of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties held the listing. Josh and Matt Altman of Douglas Elliman represented the buyer.