John Wells Snags Former Home of Francis Coppola
By Mark David
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – A stately English Tudor residence once owned by Francis Ford Coppola and located in L.A.’s ritzy Hancock Park has been sold for a mite more than $7 million to another showbiz heavy hitter: film, television and theater producer John Wells. With verdant views over the manicured greens and fairways of the Wilshire Country Club, and still possessed of much of its original architectural detailing, the faux-timbered 1920s residence has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms in roughly 6,000 square feet.
A grand, double-height foyer with split staircase leads to a step-down living room that features a 12-foot-high coffered ceiling with hand-stenciled insets and, under an also intricately stenciled ceiling, a baronial, wood-paneled formal dining room. More intimately proportioned and family-oriented spaces include a paneled study with fireplace; an informal dining room with a backyard view; and a chef-accommodating, premium-quality kitchen fitted with faux-antiqued cabinets. Marketing materials indicate Ariana Grande made use of a small recording studio discreetly stashed in the basement. The fastidiously groomed grounds offer expansive brick terraces and thick carpets of lawn, an outdoor fireplace and a swimming pool and raised spa between towering palms. The property was listed with Sheri Bienstock at The Bienstock Group ; Wells was represented in the transaction by Lisa Hutchins at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage .
The six-time Emmy-winning “ER” and “West Wing” producer, whose current slate of projects includes the “Shameless” and “Animal Kingdom” series, has a bit of a history selling luxury homes to other entertainment industry power players. Most recently, in late 2017, Brian Robbins, president of Nickelodeon, paid Wells just over $12.4 million for a lavish English Tudor mansion, also in Hancock Park. And about a dozen years ago, Wells sold a 1920s Mediterranean villa in the Laughlin Park enclave in Los Feliz — it had once been owned by Cecil B. DeMille — for almost $6 million to Legendary Entertainment honcho Mary Parent, who sold it late last year for $8.5 million.
