Greystone Mansion: The History Of Hollywood’s Favorite Estate

Introduction

Over the decades, countless movies and television shows have been shot at the legendary Greystone Mansion. Nestled in the Beverly Hills community, this lavish property has a violent, yet rich history. Indeed, some have even claimed it is haunted. This is the sordid history of this famed Tudor mansion.

The Doheny Family

Edward Laurence Doheny was born in 1856 in the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. At the age of 15, he graduated high school as valedictorian and went to work for the U.S. Geographical Survey. After a few years of doing this work in the Indian Territories of Kansas, he headed West.

Edward Doheny became a prospector in South Dakota, Arizona, and eventually in New Mexico but found little success in these ventures. While in New Mexico, Doheny made connections with Charles A. Canfield, who became his business partner, and Carrie Louella Wilkins, who became his wife. The couple had a daughter, Eileen in 1885.

In 1891, Doheny packed up his family and headed to California when he got word from Canfield that he had made a fortune speculating land in Los Angeles. However, by the time Doheny had arrived at Canfield, he was broke due to the fact that the real estate market in the City of Angels has collapsed.

Canfield and Doheny were essentially broke at this point. Over the next year, they tried prospecting in San Diego. This was a complete failure and they headed back to Los Angeles defeated. Things got worse when the young child Eileen Doheny died of heart disease, which stemmed from rheumatic fever on December 14, 1892. Nearly a year after this tragic event the couple had another child, a son named Ned who was born on November 6, 1893.

Around this time Doheny and Canfield poured what little money they had into a single oil well, a modest producer. Every cent of profit they earned on it was invested into more wells, eventually totaling 300 in all, which made the pair extremely wealthy.

In 1899, Doheny divorced Carrie and was granted sole custody of their son. He married Estelle Betzold, who raised young Ned. Not long after these events transpired Carrie Doheny, unable to cope with the loss of her children and the dissolution of her marriage, committed suicide.

Greystone Mansion Construction

In 1914, Ned Doheny married Lucy Smith a socialite from Pasadena when he was a sophomore in high school. Subsequently, the couple would go on to have 5 children. Moreover, in 1926 Edward Doheny gifted the pair 12 and-a-half acres of land in Beverly Hills in order to build a home for their family.

Greystone Mansion was designed by legendary Hoover Dam architect Gordon B. Kaufmann with construction duties undertaken by the P.J. Walker Company. Construction of the mansion began on February 15, 1927. The house took 3 years to be completed. However, Ned and his family began to occupy the residence in September 1928. The final cost for the 46,000-square-foot house was $1.2 million. Additionally, the total price for the entire estate (including tennis courts, a fire station, swimming pool, stables, a greenhouse, and a lake) came in at $3.1 million.

The craftsmanship of the fifty-five rooms of Greystone Mansion was opulently crated with meticulous care. The oak banisters, hand railings, and arch-framed stairway banisters were hand-carved. Further, black and white inlaid marble was used on the floors of the grand hall. The house contains seven chimneys each one with its own unique design by a different craftsman. An unusual but practical feature was that the kitchen features a pantry with an adjoining wall safe that stored the Doheny’s silver and gold services.

The rooms in the north wing contain a movie theater, a Brunswick bowling alley, a billiard room, as well as a hidden bar. In addition to this, the rooms on the south wing feature panoramic views of the Los Angeles Basin.

February 16, 1929

On the evening of February 16, 1929, a Saturday, tragedy stuck the Greystone Mansion. This was a mere 4 months after Ned Doheny and his family moved into the home. Ned and his close friend, Hugh Plunkett both ended up dead.

Ned and Hugh had been friends for many years with the latter overseeing the construction of Greystone Mansion. The pair along with Edward Doheny had been mixed up in a bribery scheme involving Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall, dubbed the ‘Teapot Dome’ scandal. Tensions between the friends began to appear when Ned was offered immunity by federal prosecutors offered Ned but not Hugh full immunity.

Hugh began to behave more and more erratically over the winter months of late 1928 and early 1929. As a result, on the Saturday in question, a psychiatrist, Dr. Fishbaugh, was called to Greystone. The nature of his visit was to convince Hugh to voluntarily check himself into a sanitarium.

“Hugh refused. He simply sat there. Almost shaking at times. Hands clenched. Jaw set at times. He said he would come out of it all right. I could see it was no use to push him further and so I left.”

– Dr. Fishbaugh

Later that evening, at around 10 p.m. Dr. Fishbaugh received a startling phone call.

“I received a call at the Hollywood Playhouse from my maid at 10:30 p.m. and was told to go to the Doheny home immediately. Upon my arrival there, one of the watchmen, whose name I do not know, let me in the house … As I entered, Mrs. Doheny was standing in the middle hallway approximately eight feet back from the door and greeted me. She said her husband was in a guestroom on the first floor, to the left of the hall leading from the front entrance. Both Mrs. Doheny and I started down the hall, side by side. A door, which partitions the hall, was slightly ajar, and I saw Plunkett walking toward it. ‘You stay out of here,’ he shouted at me and slammed the door shut. I then heard a shot. ‘You go back,’ I told Mrs. Doheny, and she returned to the living room, which was about 75 feet away from the guest room. I pushed the door open and saw Plunkett lying on his face opposite the door to the bedroom where I later found Mr. Doheny. Plunkett, to the best of my recollection, was fully clothed. The door to the bedroom was open, and when I looked in I saw Mr. Doheny lying on his back, a chair overturned between him and the bed.”

– Dr. Fishbaugh

Both men had been shot in their heads. A couple of hours later the police were called. Despite the unusual circumstances such as the police being called hours after the deaths, it was ruled a murder/suicide. As a result, the case was closed and news coverage of these deaths vanished after just 3 days. Nevertheless, there has been a lot of speculation about this over the years and rumors abound that the ghosts of both Hugh Plunkett and Ned Doheny haunt Greystone Mansion.

Greystone After Ned Doheny

Ned Doheny’s widow Lucy remarried a few years later and lived at Greystone until 1955 when she sold the house to Chicago businessman Henry Crown. Subsequently, he rented it out to film studios for location shooting. The grounds were sold in a separate deal to Paul Trousdale who converted them into the famed Trousdale Estates neighborhood in Beverly Hills.

In the mid-1960s, Crown planned to demolish the house and subdivide the land. However, the city of Beverly Hills stepped in and purchased Greystone Mansion. The home and its remaining grounds became a city park on September 16, 1971. Moreover, on April 23, 1976, Greystone was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Production companies that shoot at the property pay for the upkeep and maintenance to preserve and sustain its high quality.

Famous Scenes Filmed at Greystone

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

There Will Be Blood (2007) was inspired by Ned Doheny so it should come as no surprise that filming took place at Greystone Mansion. Further, the film’s legendary bowling alley ending as well as the scenes leading up to it were all shot at Greystone.

STRIPES

The German resort in which Winger (Bill Murray), Ziskey (Harold Ramis), and their girlfriends (played by PJ Soles and Sean Young) stay, in Stripes (1981), was actually shot at Greystone Mansion.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI

Greystone Mansion was used as the home (interior shots only) for the movie’s other Jeffrey Lebowski aka The Big Lebowski (1998) from which the movie gets its name. Additionally, the Coen Brothers had used Greystone’s wood-paneled living room, grand staircase, and breakfast room in their movie.

THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK

Although much of the movie was filmed in New England, there were several scenes in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) that were shot at Greystone Mansion. Among these included the bedroom and bathroom of Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson)

Conclusion

Greystone Mansion is a historic location in Beverly Hills and its ground are open to the public. If you are in Los Angeles and have time to explore them you should as it is worth your time.

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