Longtime home of former Times publisher is focus of dispute

As Los Angeles came of age in the 20th century, a stately Windsor Square mansion served as a command post for the city's most powerful couple.

The longtime home of publisher Norman Chandler, "Los Tiempos" (The Times) was where his wife, Dorothy Buffum Chandler, raised funds to build a nationally recognized music center and where she urged son Otis Chandler to transform the Los Angeles Times into an award-winning newspaper.

Today, the city-designated historic-cultural monument is the focus of an unseemly dispute involving two house hunters who claim they were swindled into buying the compound for more than $8 million, only to find that it was "rotten to the core," according to arbitration documents.

They allege they were deceived by a media-savvy designer and his broker acquaintance, who used lavish decorations to conceal faulty water pipes, leaky roofs, black mold, raw sewage and dangerous wiring.

Through their lawyer, the defendants deny the allegations.

Commissioned by Peter Janss, whose real estate empire developed Westwood, the century-old Beaux Arts estate at 455 S. Lorraine Blvd. features soaring pillars and travertine walls. It was designed by associates of trailblazing female architect Julia Morgan.

"The fact that L.A. is now regarded as one of America's major cultural centers all of this was due to what went on in that house," said David Wallace, author of "Dream Palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age." The Chandlers "were people, love them or hate them, with a real vision for making L.A. a major player in America, rather than just the Left Coast."

Years after Norman Chandler's death in 1973, Dorothy Chandler, known as "Buff," retreated from the public eye and into a second-story bedroom. After her death in 1997, interior designer Timothy Corrigan bought the house for $2 million, according to the Los Angeles County assessor.

"They let the house go to hell," Corrigan said of Dorothy Chandler's hired help in the Otis Chandler biography "Privileged Son." "There was lard dripping from the ceiling and water damage everywhere."

In media reports, Corrigan, a former advertising executive, preached the aesthetic of "comfortable elegance" and showcased extravagant interiors. On the television show "How'd You Get So Rich," Corrigan was said to have amassed a $50-million fortune and told host Joan Rivers that he owned a 40,000-square-foot country manor in France.

Go here to read the rest:
Longtime home of former Times publisher is focus of dispute