Dodgers Owner Lists Historic Los Angeles Home of for $15 Million

Los Angeles Dodgers part owner Robert Patton Jr. is selling his century-old Los Angeles mansion for $15 million, Mansion Global has learned.

The more than 8,000-square-foot Italianate residence, built in 1919, was once home to to Hollywood icon W.C. Fields. It also has a Beaux-Arts-influenced design and boasts an array of original details, as well as two-thirds of an acre of landscaped gardens, according to listing agents Michael Maguire and Victoria Massengale, both of Compass.

“It's one of the most remarkable trophy properties in the city,” Mr. Maguire said. “It has incredible privacy, views, land and history.”

The sellers are Mr. Patton and his wife, Sherri, according to listing records with PropertyShark. The couple, who were not available for comment, purchased the property in late 2013 for $7 million.

The home is located in the gated community of Laughlin Park, an area that’s long attracted bold-face names. Director Cecil B. DeMille lived in the home next door until 1959—a property now owned by actress Angelina Jolie, according to reports.

Period details are still on display at the] Patton property, including mahogany paneling and woodwork.

“The mahogany was sourced from a Spanish monastery and it's rumored that they bid against William Randolph Hearst, who also wanted it,” Ms. Massengale said.

There’s also an arched glass-and-copper solarium, where Fields would sit while his gardener sprayed it with a hose to mimic the sound of rain, according to the agent.

“It was his favorite sound,” Ms. Massengale explained.

Many of the original features are also what people are looking for in luxury homes today, Mr. Maguire noted. That includes a large kitchen with an adjacent breakfast nook and family room, four en-suite bedrooms, collapsible doors that lead outside and a number of terraces and patios that optimize the indoor-outdoor lifestyle.

The kitchen and bathrooms have been updated, and what was once the staff quarters was converted into a speakeasy-like area, Ms. Massengale said. A library was also added.

The grounds include mature olive trees and roses, and there’s also a swimming pool, according to the listing.

“The people that have owned it…[have] really respected the history of it,” Mr. Maguire said. “And it's really built in a way that’s easy to live in.”

Ms. Massengale continued: “The house is a character unto itself, and I think people feel that and they want to be the curator of this property.”