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A Historical Look at Jayne Mansfield’s “Pink Palace”
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From world-famous ateliers to designer hotspots, Historical Interiors is your weekly column for iconic decor, rare residential imagery, and cultural fashion landmarks.
There’s a house at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles now that is decidedly not pink. Long gone is the heart-shaped swimming pool that formerly graced the backyard of the previous residence; the floor-to-ceiling pink shag rug-covered bathroom; the shiny, red leather tufted walls of an office; the stairway bearing the countless magazine covers on which its owner appeared. Before it was demolished in 2002, the former house had belonged to the Jayne Mansfield until she died in a car accident on June 29, 1967.
The buxom blonde actress, more often celebrated for her 40-21-35 silhouette than her 163 IQ, had achieved fame through old-fashioned elbow grease. She put herself in front of cameras whenever she could until it led to a contract with Warner Brothers. She then landed her first starring role on the Broadway stage in the 1955 George Axelrod comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? as sex symbol Rita Marlowe.
That year, she also made her way to the silver screen and from there her presence only grew, leading to a starring role in what would become one of her most iconic films, The Girl Can’t Help It, and later the film version of Rock Hunter. She had arrived at full-fledged stardom. In 1958, newly married to bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay (the couple would become the parents of Mariska Hargitay of Law and Order: SVU), she also procured herself a full-fledged mansion in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles.
At ,000 (just over 0,000 in today’s dollars), the three-story home has been described as both “Spanish Colonial” and, sarcastically, as “Mediterranean Movie-Star Baroque”—its design goals perhaps a bit lofty. Having loved pink since her childhood, Mansfield hired Los Angeles set decorator Glenn Holse to craft her home—which she and Hargitay later dubbed “The Pink Palace”—in her idealized image. Originally faced with white stucco, Mansfield had the house covered in a pink paint run through with crushed rock that accordingly sparkled in the bright Los Angeles sun. Her initials were formed into the compound’s wrought iron gates, as well.
The home’s 10,000 square feet featured 15 rooms according to files kept by the city (though it’s been reported to have as many as 40) and seven bathrooms resting across its three and a half acres. Mansfield also apparently commanded “a heart-shaped house with a heart-shaped pool” as a prerequisite for their marriage and Hargitay delivered. He built her a 40-feet-wide pool himself, and it wasn’t just heart-shaped, it bore the words “I love you Jaynie” in a mosaic of gold leaf tiles on the bottom. A heart motif also appeared in Mansfield’s fireplaces, one above an outdoor fireplace on a patio and one carved indoors, though there were also five others throughout the property.
“The Pink Palace” became part of the image Mansfield knew well how to sell, that pink shag, that red leather, and all, as well as an ongoing “love” theme, replete with hearts and cupids. The master bedroom was a vision in pink equal to the bathroom, adorned with a headboard of heart mirrors and candles, cupids painted on the walls, and more pink shag carpeting.
The living room couches, a deep amethyst color, featured a heart quilting pattern. They rested atop white shag carpeting so deep even her multiple Chihuahuas had trouble traversing it, not to mention her ocelot and her Pekingese, Powderpuff. The space also sported cupid statues, a white and gold Steinway grand piano adorned with the figures, and a cupid fountain designed to offer champagne if desired.
After Mansfield’s death, both Ringo Starr of The Beatles (who supposedly said that even though he kept painting the walls white the pink kept finding its way through) and Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas lived in the house. Singer Englebert Humperdinck bought the house in 1976 then sold it in 2002. “The Pink Palace” was then demolished that year, but remains a fabulous memory of Hollywood’s days gone by, and of the bombshell queen herself.
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createdAt:Thu, 27 Jun 2019 13:42:08 +0000
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