Jason Blum Buys in Rustic Canyon Area

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Academy Award-nominated producer Jason Blum recently purchased a $14.3 million Frank Gehry-designed home in Pacific Palisades, according to Variety.

The Rustic Canyon home boasts an extensive history: In the late 1970s, filmmaker John Whitney asked Gehry to design a residential compound that featured “a series of separate but visually related structures,” Variety reports. “The finished project, completed in 1981, was one of Gehry’s earliest works and became known–somewhat unimaginatively—as the John Whitney Residence, or alternatively as House for a Filmmaker.”

By the end of the ’80s, Whitney enlisted architect Mark Mack to remodel the home, combining the formerly separate structures into one large home, having been sold several times since then.

In 2009, the owner of the home at the time paid $2.2 million for the home next door, rebuilding it as a guesthouse and combining the lots, according to Variety. He then put it on the market in fall 2018 for $18.5 million, where it remained until Blum’s recent purchase.

The six-bedroom, eight-and-a-half-bathroom estate, with a two-bedroom guest house, is described as “wondrously secluded” as it is situated at the end of a cul-de-sac and behind a long driveway. The main residence boasts 5,164 square feet and the guest house 2,000 square feet.

“Beyond a tranquil courtyard, doors open to the impeccably scaled main house, replete with soaring, exposed beam ceilings, polished concrete floors, a two-story gallery and vaulted skylights that bathe the interiors in natural light,” according to the listing.

Multi-leveled living spaces are designed for entertaining, and several rooms open to the home’s outdoor entertaining area, which has two separate seating areas with fireplaces, an outdoor cinema with built-in projector, lawn, heated pool and spa, and meditation platform.

Cindy Ambuehl of Compass and Blair Chang of The Agency held the listing, as Eric Lavey of The Agency represented Blum.

Through Blumhouse Productions, Blum is responsible for launching the “Insidious,” “Paranormal Activity” and “The Purge” movie franchises. Blum also produced “Whiplash,” “Sinister” and the 2018 remake of “Halloween”—featuring fellow Palisadian Jamie Lee Curtis.

Two other Blum films, “Split” and “Get Out,” grossed more than $500 million at the box office, according to Variety, launching on a combined budget of $13.5 million.