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The most famous feature of this home is the piano-shaped swimming pool, with black and white keys embossed on the concrete. Liberace lived here from 1953 to about 1957, when the lack of security caused him to spend more time at his other estates. His mother and brother lived in the home while he was away, and unfortunately in 1957 his mother was attacked by two men in black hoods in the home’s garage. Many believed the attack was related to Liberace’s lawsuit against Confidential magazine, which had run an article alleging his homosexuality. He sold the home in the 60s, and it remains a tourist destination to this day. But Liberace isn’t the only famous person to own it; Ryan Stiles, from “Whose Line Is It Anyway?
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Liberace lived there in the 1970s, and before that, it was owned by Barbara Sinatra, the model and fourth wife of Frank Sinatra. The nearly 2,000-square-foot unit still maintains its Old Hollywood style today with original walnut floors, stately columns and a 1930s marble fireplace. While some critics have dismissed him for being overly sentimental, Liberace has left a lasting impact on the world of entertainment. His elaborate and sometimes garish style has influenced the likes of Presley, Elton John and David Bowie to name a few. A film celebrating Liberace's was released in 2013, with Michael Douglas playing the legendary showman.
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Lewis told The Desert Sun in 1997 Liberace called her after hearing she was interested in his services and sought $550 a week — $200 more than he had been earning. "When I used to go to his houses in Palm Springs and in L.A., he used to have that car that we used in the movie — a Rolls Royce," he said. "We used to go in through the garage at his house and he used to serve us champagne and caviar in the back of that car. That was the bar. I thought that was pretty cool." One of Sherman Oaks' classic mid-century homes with a celebrity pedigree is the Liberace home on Valley Vista Boulevard, which still looks very much the same today as it did in 1953 when Liberace moved in there with his mother, Frances. Its master bath featured a custom-made sunken marble tub that cost $50,000, pillars, fountains, and a painting of Liberace on the ceiling.
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I fairly quickly came across an area known as View Park-Windsor Hills that had a plethora of ranch-style properties, one of which – at 4238 Olympiad Drive – turned out to be the right place. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk it two weekends ago while the two of us were in L.A. The residence made headlines in July of 1957, when Francis was attacked by two masked men while throwing away trash in the garage. At the time, Liberace was involved in a $20 million libel lawsuit against Confidential Magazine which had featured a recent cover story insinuating that the entertainer was gay. Liberace had given a deposition earlier that day and it is widely believed that the attack on his mother was a direct result of the lawsuit, although the perpetrators were never identified.
This 1930 Spanish-Colonial, nicknamed "the Cloisters," and "Casa de Liberace," was the pianist's favorite home, and where he saw out his last days.
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The defense presented bills indicating telephone calls between Liberace’s residences and Strote’s office on dates consistent with the attorney’s account. A deposition of a notary public was read into the transcript, indicating that Liberace was more together at the will-signing than the plaintiffs’ witnesses had claimed. He was said to have been angry when a settlement in a palimony suit brought by a previous companion became public. He had summoned Strote shortly before his death to threaten legal action against a newspaper preparing to report that he was afflicted with acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
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Even the mailbox is shaped like a grand piano – sans candelabra. The home’s current owners, Elizabeth Smalley and Garth Gilpin, bought the home in May 2010 for $625,000. The couple told Palm Springs Life that the prior owner was a fan of Liberace and Elvis Presley, and the interior was perhaps even more decadent and colorful than when Liberace lived there. “There were painted cherubs on the ceiling, a room that was Dalmatian and cow print, fake flowers, red velvet, gold, with Elvis and Liberace everywhere,” Smalley said. The listing photos are proof; you can see the cow print, red velvet and abundant fake foliage throughout the house. Smalley and Gilpin have since updated and restored the home, returning the gold-plated faucets to their original splendor.
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The house became even more of a tourist attraction when he was made honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks and decorated his property at Christmas, playing Liberace recordings over a loudspeaker. The late pianist, known as “the king of pizazz” and the “sultan of schmaltz,” wanted to turn his Palm Springs home into a museum of Liberace memorabilia. Palm Springs was important to him professionally, but his biographer Bob Thomas said the city also a good place for him to discreetly indulge in gay relationships, such as the relationship depicted in the HBO movie with Scott Thorson. Liberace also played a key role in the development of Las Vegas as an entertainment mecca.
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It became a key tourist attraction along with his own live shows. The proceeds from the museum benefited the Liberace Foundation of Performing and Creative Arts. After 31 years, the museum closed in 2010 due to declining admissions. Liberace's first network television program, the 15-minute Liberace Show, debuted in July 1952.
Liberace remodeled the house extensively, and stylistically it is in harmony with the over-the-top Hollywood Regency style for which he is most well-known. Of the three Palm Springs homes owned and lived in by Liberace, Piazza di Liberace is the only one remaining which closely resembles its appearance at the time he owned it. Liberace also owned a 25,000-square-foot office building with a 5,000-square-foot residential penthouse, located at 7461 Beverly Blvd. He also owned a mansion in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he kept many of his dogs (he owned 27 of them at one point). Liberace bought this Las Vegas estate in the 1960s, and owned it until his death in 1987. Unfortunately JP Morgan Chase owns it now; it went into foreclosure in 2010 and hasn’t been sold since.
It all started soon after his lunch with Mae West, when the actress encouraged him to buy “snazzy” homes for his own enjoyment but also with an eye toward selling. I am 99.9% certain that several areas of the residence’s actual interior, including the dining room, kitchen, living room, and den, were also used in the movie, but I could not find any photographs of the inside of the home with which to verify that hunch. He was sued by his former bodyguard and chauffeur Scott Thorson in 1982. Thorson claimed that he had been in a relationship with Liberace and that Liberace had promised to take care of him and support him.
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