Barely one month after she put it up for grabs, Ashley Benson’s Los Angeles home has officially sold. The 1930s Los Feliz residence, tucked away within the famously star-studded Laughlin Park gated community, went for $8.5 million — lower than the “Pretty Little Liars” star’s $9.5 million asking price, but far more than the $4.5 million she paid for the place back in 2020.
Records show the buyers are Scott Parra-Matthews, the longtime CFO of major food wholesaler Vesta Foodservice, and his husband Jairo Parra-Matthews.
During her ownership, Benson gave the property a big and very thorough remodel. In addition to bathing each room in vibrantly decadent colors, she also ripped out and replaced the entire kitchen, renovated the bathrooms and generally gave the whole place a new and very contemporary lease on life. And even the outdoors didn’t escape the magic Benson touch — the Orange County native added a high wall that surrounds the entire property, installed privacy hedges and even replaced the old swimming pool with a newer and sexier pool, complete with a big raised hot tub. “No money was spared during the recent remodel,” the listing proclaimed.
Designed nearly a century ago by prolific L.A. architect Arthur Rowland Kelly, best known for also penning the Playboy Mansion, the nearly 5,000-square-foot house was modeled after the Mediterranean-style villas that lace the French and Italian Rivieras. Despite its age, Benson is reportedly only the Laughlin Park home’s fourth-ever owner.
While plenty of original charm remains, those Benson upgrades are very bespoke. Some of the more unusual amenities include a hair salon, a speakeasy “VIP lounge bar” and a wood-paneled master bedroom with its own kitchenette and boutique-style closet. The master bath features separate greenhouse-like stations for the shower/tub area and the toilet, respectively, and other in-house upgrades include a dropdown projector screen and a state-of-the-art Control4 smart home system.
The cul-de-sac property is atypical in that is surrounded on three sides by a roadway, meaning that outdoor space is somewhat limited, but there is a big and new stone patio with ample space for al fresco entertaining, plus a grassy patch of lawn. One extra-special feature: per this listing, this house is perched on a knoll at the very highest point of Laughlin Park, meaning it lords over all the neighbors and sports 360-degree views that encompass the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood Hills and Downtown L.A. skyline.
Laughlin Park has long been a favorite haunt of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Current residents include Brie Larson, Natalie Portman, Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart, Ellen Pompeo and Will.i.am, though the enclave is perhaps most famous for having been home to Cecil B. DeMille, the American cinema pioneer, for nearly 40 years.
Source: Luxury - robbreport.com
