Having last year dropped $2.15 million on a nearly 100-year-old Spanish home in L.A.’s low-key but increasingly expensive Beverly Grove neighborhood, “Moone Boy” star Chris O’Dowd and writer/presenter Dawn O’Porter have none-too-surprisingly put their former home in the nearby Melrose District up for grabs at almost $1.8 million. The showbiz couple, he a 2019 Emmy winner for the short-form British series “State of the Union” and she a best-selling author whose fourth novel (“So Lucky”) was published last year, hope to more than double the not-quite-$875,000 they paid for the late 1920s Spanish bungalow a bit more than seven years ago.
Hidden behind a high fence, secured gate and a tangle of tropical plantings, the charming, bougainvillea-draped bungalow has three bedrooms and three bathrooms in close to 2,200 square feet. The property is jointly listed with Victoria Parks-Murphy and Chris Lucibello, both of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties.
A second gate in the slightly unkempt and not particularly pretty but desirably private front yard opens to a pint-sized courtyard where the front door opens directly into a light-filled living room. A fireplace anchors the pleasantly voluminous space that features a beamed and vaulted exposed wood ceiling, original wood floors and an arched window flanked by arched display niches. The adjoining dining area is open over a raised snack bar to an updated (if very-late-1980s) galley kitchen finished with glossy jet-black floor tiles, jet-black granite counters and a jazzy mix of lustrous black and and shimmery stainless steel cabinetry. A massive skylight floods the kitchen with natural light and keeps all the dark fittings from feeling too overwhelming. One of the two average-sized guest bedrooms has French doors to the backyard, as does the main bedroom, which also includes an en suite bathroom brazenly sheathed in bright turquoise tiles.
Out back, a vine laden pergola shades a deck that runs along the rear of the house and steps down to a small, hedge-ringed backyard that squeezes in a bit of artificial turf alongside a lap-lane swimming pool. The detached two-car garage has been converted to additional, flexible-use living space with a smooth concrete floor, French doors and a full wall of built-in storage cabinets.
Built in 1930 and a quick stroll to the Original Farmers Market and the Beverly Grove shopping center, O’Dowd and O’Porters new house is considerably larger than their old one, close to 3,000 square feet with up to five bedrooms and three bathrooms.