‘Ugly Betty’ Creator Silvio Horta Seeks Sale of Laurel Canyon Villa (EXCLUSIVE)
By Mark David
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Silvio Horta, 2007 Emmy nominated creator, writer and executive producer of the syndicated sitcom “Ugly Betty,” has his West Hollywood, Calif., home up for sale at $3.85 million. Currently at work with superstar Mary J. Blige on a musical dramedy called “Move,” Horta has owned the property since the spring of 2007, when he picked it up for $2.395 million, and this is not the first time he’s recently tried to sell the updated 1924 Spanish villa. In late 2016 the 4,148-square-foot home was floated as a whisper listing at $5 million and in 2017 the three- and potentially four-bedroom and 3.5-bathroom home was briefly available on the open market at a tetch under $4.5 million.
Just above Sunset Boulevard near the southern mouth of Laurel Canyon and outfitted with whole-house speaker system and a comprehensive, camera-equipped security apparatus, the two-story residence is prominently perched high above the street atop a vine-encrusted wall and a dense, carefully clipped hedgerow. It’s a long slog up from the street, past a lower level entertainment patio to the elevated front door that opens directly into a skylight-topped living room that features a vintage tile fireplace and dark hardwood floors that run into the adjacent formal dining room. With a small breakfast area and a long work island down its center, the kitchen features gleaming white solid surface countertops on gutsy, cobalt blue Shaker-style cabinets.
A plushly turned out den/media lounge with a louche 1970s vibe along with an en suite guest bedroom with terrace access and roomy master suite with fireplace, walk-in closet and spacious bathroom complete the main floor while the lower level has an outside entrance and contains an en suite guest bedroom, kitchenette and black-walled projection system screening room appointed with fur throw pillows on chunky leather sofas.
French doors in the den/media lounge open to a courtyard patio under the slatted shade of a roof-mounted trellis and the compact, dexterously terraced backyard incorporates a sunbathing deck just above a plunge-sized swimming pool and spa. A detached structure houses a small, mirror-walled gym plus a two-car garage accessible by way of a slender alleyway carved into the hillside behind the house.
Horta owns a couple of perfectly ordinary homes in the Kendale Lakes suburb of Miami, Fla., and he once owned a two-bedroom and two-bathroom condo in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood he bought for a bit more than $1.78 million in 2008, when production for “Ugly Betty” was moved amid much brouhaha to New York from Los Angeles, and sold in 2013 for not quite $1.85 million
listing photos: Coldwell Banker
