Angelina Jolie Puts Iconic Cecil B. DeMille Estate on the Market for $30 Million

In 2017, amidst the headlines surrounding her separation from Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie made headlines of her own by purchasing a grand estate in Los Feliz for $24.5 million. This property, nestled within the exclusive and historic Laughlin Park community in Los Angeles, was a significant acquisition.

The estate holds a storied past, having been the cherished home of Cecil B. DeMille, a legendary figure in the early days of Hollywood. DeMille acquired the main residence in 1916 and lived there until his passing in 1959. During those years, it served as both a family sanctuary and a creative hub for the burgeoning film industry.

Now, nearly nine years later, Jolie is preparing to bid farewell to this iconic home.

The actress has put the estate on the market with an asking price of $29.85 million. Essentially, it’s a $30 million listing. Should she achieve a sale in that range, it would represent a modest increase over her initial investment, albeit likely tempered by expenses such as taxes, upkeep, renovations, commissions, and local transfer fees.

However, this narrative transcends mere real estate transactions. It highlights the availability of one of Hollywood’s most historically significant private residences.

The Cecil B. DeMille Estate

The property spans approximately 2.1 acres within Laughlin Park, a gated enclave in Los Feliz known for attracting entertainment industry luminaries over the years. The estate features five distinct structures, with the centerpiece being an expansive main house boasting around 11,000 square feet and six bedrooms.

The compound also includes a guesthouse, poolhouse, tea house, garage, security station, swimming pool, outdoor dining areas, mature trees, and even a hidden treehouse. For Jolie, who has six children, the property offered the rare combination of space, privacy, history, and a central Los Angeles location.

When Jolie bought the home in 2017, the location also had a practical advantage. It was just a few minutes from Brad Pitt’s longtime compound in the nearby Bronson Canyon area, a meaningful detail as the former couple navigated custody arrangements after their divorce filing.

A True Old Hollywood Landmark

The main house was built in 1913 and later purchased by Cecil B. DeMille in 1916 for $27,893. DeMille was one of the most important filmmakers in early Hollywood, with credits that included “The Squaw Man,” “The King of Kings,” “Cleopatra,” “Samson and Delilah,” and “The Ten Commandments.”

DeMille did not just live at the estate. He worked there. According to accounts of the property, he kept an office and screening room on the grounds, complete with heavy furniture, leather-bound copies of his scripts, and a private screening setup. In front of the screen, he reportedly kept the original battered Pathé camera he used to shoot “The Squaw Man,” one of the films that helped establish Hollywood as the center of the American movie industry.

That makes this house more than a celebrity mansion. It is a physical link to the founding era of Los Angeles entertainment.

Here’s what the estate looked like when it was photographed from a plane in 1920:

Historically, the property consists of two separate mansions that were eventually joined into a single compound. The main residence, at the center of the property, is the DeMille House. It is the Italianate/Beaux-Arts mansion built in 1913 and purchased by DeMille in 1916. This was his primary residence and office for more than 40 years.

The neighboring house, visible to the left, is widely known as the Charlie Chaplin House. Chaplin reportedly rented the Spanish Revival home briefly before DeMille bought it in 1920. After acquiring the neighboring property, DeMille used the expanded estate for additional living, guest, and work space.

Here’s what the home looked like in March 2017, right before Jolie made her $24.95 million purchase:

When Jolie bought the estate in June 2017, the asking price had been $24.95 million. Her purchase price, $24.5 million, was enormous for Los Feliz at the time and reportedly set a neighborhood record by a wide margin.

It also came during an extremely public turning point in her personal life. Jolie had filed for divorce from Pitt in 2016, and reports at the time said she had been renting a Malibu beachfront home for around $95,000 per month. The DeMille estate gave her a permanent Los Angeles base with privacy, security, and room for her children.

It was also a deeply on-brand purchase. Jolie was not buying a newly built glass box or speculative modern mansion. She was buying an estate with history, architecture, privacy, and a connection to the earliest era of Hollywood filmmaking.

Angelina’s $24.5 million purchase price in 2017 more than doubled the previous record for the neighborhood, which previously belonged to comedian Chris Hardwick and his wife, Hearst heiress Lydia Hearst-Shaw, who paid $11 million for a nearby estate in 2015.

I just checked Zillow and there is only one other home in the area listed for more than $10 million. That mansion last sold for $5.3 million in 2004. It was listed for sale in May 2024 for $32 million and has since been price-chopped down to $17 million. In the last four years, the most expensive home sale in the area was a property that fetched $13.5 million. Angelina’s estate is much bigger and obviously has an incredible Hollywood pedigree, so hopefully that will help secure her $30 million asking price!