The Spadena House / The Witch's House (Beverly Hills, California)

USA / California / Beverly Hills / Beverly Hills, California / North Walden Drive, 516
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516 North Walden Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

As of May 2006, under renovation

Beverly Hills is probably the last place on earth that you'd expect to find a witch's house, but here it is!

There are so many beautiful mansions in Beverly Hills that it's hard to keep track of them. But if you turn north from Wilshire Boulevard, up posh Carmelita Avenue, you will discover an extraordinary house unlike anything else you'll ever find in these parts.

Known formally as "The Spadena House," but better known simply as "The Witch's House," this bizarre, whimsical creation was built in 1921 for a movie studio in Culver City. It was used in several silent films, and then moved to this pleasant residential neighborhood in Beverly Hills in 1926, where it is now a private home.

But the small house might as well have been created by the Brothers Grimm.

It looks for all the world like some haunted fairy tale cottage; you half expect Hansel & Gretel to walk out the front door. The yellow walls of the house slope precariously, giving the impression of imminent collapse. Its dilapidated, pitched roof (covered with odd-shaped brown shingles) is pointed like a witch's hat. The saggy, wooden window shutters are hung at odd angles. An eccentric picket fence surrounds the property, made of wavy, warped wooden pickets.

Even the landscaping in the front yard is purposefully bizarre, with gnarled, twisted trees, a wooden bridge crossing a moat, a miniature old mill and a sign (hanging from a lantern) which reads: "Witch's Landing."

www.zillow.com/homedetails/516-Walden-Dr-Beverly-Hills-...
www.seeing-stars.com/Landmarks/WitchesHouse.shtml

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqeDpIAVQXk
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spadena_House
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°4'8"N   118°24'39"W

Comments

  • It's also featured in the Alicia Silverstone movie, Clueless.
  • Thank goodness for eccentricity! It's nice to see something unusual amongst the miasma of swimming pools and acre-long red tile roofs.
This article was last modified 4 months ago