Spanish Home Built in 1932 for ‘Wizard of Oz’ Choreographer Lists for $5M (Exclusive)

Long on classic Mission-style Spanish charm, a four-bedroom home originally built in 1932 for Bobby Connolly, the choreographer of The Wizard of Oz, has come up for sale in Encino. Listed at $4.995 million and known as the Woodley Estate, it includes a 3,674-square-foot main house with four bedrooms, a one-bedroom guest house and a pool on a generously sized 27,000 square foot corner lot (nearly 2/3 of an acre.)

Original owner Connolly was nominated four times for the short-lived Academy Award category of best dance direction in the 1930s (including for the Marion Davies-Clark Gable romantic comedy Cain and Mabel). Since then, the home has also been owned by such figures as Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, pedal-steel-guitar pioneer Alvino Rey, and, per the L.A. Times, actor Gary Crosby, a son of Bing Crosby.

“It’s completely private and it has a storied history,” says listing agent Rita Whitney of The Agency, adding that the brick and white-stucco gated property “is walled on two sides and has an enormous amount of character and architectural integrity.” Details of note, says Whitney, “very cool original tile in the bathrooms, doors and hardware on the gates that are all very period oriented and unique, and an oversized amazing fireplace and wood beams in the living room. The house has a very old world feel.” Other architectural features include Saltillo tiles, arched doorways, stained-glass windows, French doors and, in the kitchen, clerestory windows. The garden is highlighted by mature olive and citrus trees.

The property last sold in 2015 for $3.4 million; previously, in 1999 for $900k and for $131k in 1975.

Whitney adds that the house is “literally a block and a half from Ventura Boulevard,” meaning it’s walkable to shopping and restaurants. “The convenience factor is ridiculous.”

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