If you want to live in a piece of automotive and film history in La Cañada Flintridge, all it’ll take is about $6 million.
The six-bedroom, 4½-bathroom Country English Manor-style home located at 632 Berkshire Ave. is listed at a cool $5.85 million. The expansive 5,237-square-foot home was built in 1923 and sits on 2.4 acres of wooded landscape. It also includes a 1,142-square-foot basement, two ground-floor patios and three second-story patios and a gated entryway for both cars and pedestrians.
“It’s old Flintridge,” said Brett Furrey, the Realtor marketing the home. “Not too different from when it was built. It’s one of the most private homes in the Flintridge flats.”
From what he’s been able to glean from the home’s records, Furrey said the interior for the most part appears as it did when it was built, although it has been kept up throughout the decades. The kitchen was remodeled in 1957 and more contemporary furnaces were added in 1980.
“As far as we know it, it looks like it has most of its original features, except for the remodeled kitchen,” he said.
The 432-square-foot pool is the second on the property; the first was filled in when the current pool was installed in 2011.
The architectural firm Hunt & Burns, Los Angeles, constructed the home for original owners Standish and Barbara Mitchell and their family. Standish Mitchell, a renowned Southern California athlete during his formative years, became distinguished as an executive with Automobile Club of Southern California, becoming its general manager in 1936.
Standish Mitchell’s achievements in that capacity include pushing the development of the modern freeway system. He was named president of the Coliseum Commission in 1948 and would also serve as president of the 6th District Agricultural Board. He belonged to the Masons, the California Club, the Los Angeles and Flintridge Country Clubs and the Southern California Athletic and Country Club until his death in 1957.
The home has had two owners since the Mitchells and, as another interesting note, Standish Mitchell’s brother, Douglas Mitchell, built and lived in the neighboring home to the west until 1940. Douglas Mitchell also was involved with Automobile Club.
The home has been used numerous times as the set for movies, including for the original “The In-Laws” released in 1979 featuring Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, 2008’s “The House Bunny” with Anna Faris and the 2006 film “The Good German” starring George Clooney.
Furrey notes that the famed “Guacamole Act” scene from “The In-Laws” was filmed in this home’s dining room and is featured on Turner Classic Movie’s website.
“It’s sort of cool to see what it looked like in 1979,” Furrey said in a text message.
To see what the home looks like now, visit 632berkshire.com for an image gallery and video tour of the property.
