Greystone Mansion

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Greystone Mansion is the home built in Beverly Hills, California by Edward L. Doheny for his son. In 1976 the mansion was recognized as a historic landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now used as a location for special events such as weddings and filming movies.

[edit] History

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The house, a wedding gift from Doheny, Sr. to his son Edward (Ned) L. Doheny, Jr. was built in 1928 for $3,200,000. Ned lived at the house with his wife, Lucy Smith, and five children. Though Doheny, Sr. purchased the land it sat on in 1910. He had discovered oil in the area and acquired a total of 429 acres. 22 acres went towards the house for his only son and wife in 1914.

Nothing was done with the land until 1925, when Ned began construction of an 85-room mansion. Built of Indiana limestone, giving the building its name, it contained 46,000 square feet. Its roof is of slate, three inches thick; the inner structure of the house is of steel-reinforced concrete. Situated as it is in the hills above Sunset Boulevard, and facing the Santa Monica Bay, most of the family rooms had magnificent views through leaded-glass windows. The Great Hall's windows reach one and one-half stories.

Among the amenities were a bowling alley, two movie theaters, a library, a billiard room, and numerous secret bars (remember, this was during Prohibition). The servants' wing had room for 16 live-in staff members; in addition, 20 more servants were required to run the household. It had its own tennis courts, a swimming pool, a greenhouse, a fire station with two firetrucks, and kennels. It took three years to complete and was ready by September, 1928.

The family moved into the new home in October 1928. On February 16, 1929, half a year after moving into the house, Hugh Plunkett, Ned's private secretary, shot and killed his boss. Plunkett then took his own life.

Mrs. Doheny continued to live in Greystone with the five children until 1954. She had remarried three years after the death of her husband to oilman Leigh Battson. After selling 410 acres of the ranch to developer Paul Trousdale, she and her husband built and moved to a 35 room house just above Greystone which they called "The Knoll". Mrs. Doheny died in 1993 at age 101.

Although sold to Henry Crown, the property was never used as a residence again. In 1965 the city of Beverly Hills acquired the mansion and its grounds, 18.23 acres, for $1,300,000. They then placed a large underground reservoir under the rear lawn. Today the grounds of Greystone are open to the public as a park, but the building itself remains closed, empty, and deteriorating.

A new group in Beverly Hills, the Friends of Greystone (FoG), has begun to restore the Mansion to its prime state. Some rooms have already been completely restored. FoG plans to purchase original Greystone furniture and return it to the Mansion.

The grounds of the Greystone Mansion is the site of many civic events, weddings, filming, a summer day camp and the City's tree farm.