‘Hobbit house’ with Hollywood connection hits market in LA

It looks like a movie set, but this fairytale cottage in central Los Angeles is a real home. 

Nicknamed the ‘Hobbit House’ by locals, the property was built over 30 years by Lawrence Joseph, a former Walt Disney Studios artist. 

Joseph started building a trio of cottages on the site in the 1940s and construction was not completed until 1970. He continued to tinker with the cottages until his death in 1991. 

And Joseph wasn’t the only family member with a Hollywood connection – his wife Martha was once Alfred Hitchcock’s secretary. 

Now, the property is for sale with a guide price of $US1.95 million ($3.1 million). 

It’s an unusual sight, surrounded by high-rise apartments and carparks in an unassuming pocket of downtown LA. 

The cottages look straight out of a fairytale, with round roofs, leaded glass windows, wooden shingles and hand-laid brick paths. 

The ‘Hobbit House’ is an iconic example of storybook architecture, a building trend that took off in California in the 1920s. 

Hollywood powerhouses like Harry Oliver and Charlie Chaplin built higgledy-piggledy cottages across Los Angeles inspired by European fairytales such as Hansel and Gretel. 

These whimsical homes had traditional features like thatched roofs, cobblestones, turrets and dovecotes. 

Today, Lawrence and Martha Joseph’s miniature Hobbiton is divided into nine separate dwellings that are occupied by tenants. 

“Although it is not technically Lord of the Rings themed, the tenants all jokingly refer to ourselves as Hobbits and love calling this historic work of art home,” the property’s website says. 

Living in such an iconic building has its downsides, however – tenants have had to issue a public warning against people digging for buried treasure on the property, explaining: “Repairing the bricks is difficult.” 

The property is reportedly haunted by “at least one ghost” who is said to have died “while searching for buried treasure”. 

In addition to the tenants and the legendary ghost, the Hobbit House is also inhabited by several turtles – all named Michelangelo – who live in the garden pond. 

The Hobbit House has had a rich and storied history over its lifetime. Hollywood stars like Nick Nolte, Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin used to call the cottages home. 

In 1963, much of the $240,000 ransom money Frank Sinatra paid after the abduction of his son was uncovered in one of the units, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

Listing agent Chris Huddleston from The Sher Group has high hopes for the property. 

“What makes this property special is that it feels like you are walking onto a movie set and not an apartment complex,” Huddleston told Mansion Global. 

“The more the area has gentrified, the more special the Hobbit Houses feel. You can literally walk from your home in the Middle-Earth to high-end restaurants, the Metro, Apple/Amazon and even Erewhon.”