Marion Davies' Homes

Ocean House

Called "Ocean House" or simply "The Beach House," this was a 34 bedroom Georgian mansion on the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica.  Marion sold it in the late 1940's and it was razed (all but the pool, servants quarters and tennis courts) in the late 1950's.  The site was used for a while as a hotel and country club, but the house didn't have enough bedrooms to make a go as a hotel so it was demolished.

Beverly Hills House 1

I label Marion's Beverly Hills homes as 1 and 2.   This one is located at 1700 Lexington in Beverly Hills.  It had once been occupied by Columbia Pictures Head Harry Cohn.  The house was the first home Marion occupied when she moved to Hollywood.  The top photo above is a color lithograph from the early 30's.  The photo above this text was taken by yours truly in March of 2000.




Beverly Hills House 2
 Beverly Hills House 2  is located at 1011 Beverly Drive and is completely shrouded in trees on the hilltop.  The photo here only shows the gatehouse (on the left, behind the modern looking wall) and the entry gate to the driveway.  The driveway is a sharp uphill slope with the pool going up the side of the hill in three layers.  This is the house where The Bodygaurd was shot.

San Simeon
Of course Marion never owned San Simeon, but it certainly must be listed as one of her residences.  If you live on or near the West Coast, you haven't seen anything until you've visited "The Ranch" and toured La Casa Grande.  The great folks at the Castle are very kind to Miss Davies and I look forward to each of my visits to the Enchanted Hill.

The Bungalow (Dressing Room)



Louis B. Mayer built this eleven room "bungalow" for Marion in1924 to use as a dressing room on the MGM lot.
When Hearst and Mayer parted ways in 1934, Hearst had his construction crews cut the building in half
and move it to the Warner lot, where Marion used it until she completed her last Warner film in 1937.  Pictured
 here as it looked on the Warner lot (the upper black and white photo, courtesy of Bob Board), the bungalow is the taller building with the round turret.  In 1937, Cosmopolitan Productions moved to the Fox lot where the bungalow (again!) was relocated.  When the work at Fox was completed Marion gave the building to her Niece, and (once more) moved it to 910 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills.  From the papers left over regarding the last move, it was stated that they cut off the top story and made some serious modifications to the building.  The current house at 910 Benedict Canyon (the lower photo) bears little to no resemblance to the famed bungalow so either many modern updates have been made or the original building was removed at some point.  



Wyntoon (Northern California)
W.R. built a collection of cottages along the McCloud River in Northern California and
named it Wyntoon.  The estate consists of several structures, each one serving a different purpose.
Marion referred to the place as "Spittoon," but in later life commented that she and W.R. were happiest
there because they were able to spend time alone in the seclusion.  Most of the war years were spent
at Wyntoon out of fear that Japan would bomb or invade San Simeon.   On the second floor level of the
Cinderella House (pictured here) there is a painting of a lovely maiden descending a staircase....Guess
who the maiden is?

 St. Donats (Wales, UK)
 W.R. bought and restored this castle but didn't stay there much. 
It's lavish pools and grounds were often open to the public while
Hearst owned the property.

Other Davies homes not yet listed with photos:

Marion Davies' Desert Inn (Palm Springs)
The Willows - Palm Springs
The Warwick Hotel in New York

Visitors since 1/30/2000