Where in the world is….? Celebrity #9: actress Lisa Kudrow, who quietly paid $1.9M in August 1996 for her 6,397-square-foot house in Beverly Hills, CA's postal area

Today’s installment of “Where in the world is….?” involves “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow, an extremely high-profile (and at one time, very well-paid!) actress who nonetheless has done an outstanding job over the years of staying out of the celebrity real estate gossip columns and blogs — until now. Kudrow somehow has managed to avoid the celebrity real estate gossip spotlight over the years, even as all five of her fellow “Friends” castmates have been the subjects of unending reports about their real estate travails here, at the Real Estalker, and in the Los Angeles Times’ ‘Hot Property’ column, among other places. Now, Big Time Listings can provide the details of Kudrow’s real-estate portfolio. Records show that Kudrow’s Milval Trust paid $1,900,000 in August 1996 to purchase her six-bedroom, 6,397-square-foot house at 1273 Tower Grove Drive, high above Beverly Hills, Calif. Almost 12 years later, Kudrow continues to live in the house, which sits on a gated, 0.72-acre lot, according to public records (disregard erroneous Los Angeles County records that suggest that the property is 7.2 acres; that’s clearly a typographical error, and satellite photos clearly show that Kudrow’s property’s size is roughly in line with neighboring properties, all of which are between three-quarters of an acre and an acre). In addition to the house, which was built in 1978 and has seven baths, Kudrow’s property also has a pool and a tennis court, according to public records and satellite images. It’s not as if Kudrow has never discussed her house in print. However, the few times that she has, the details have been vague at best. In the August 1997 In Style, for example, the magazine reported that “Kudrow and her husband of two years, advertising executive Michel Stern, are preparing to move into a new house, still mired in renovations, high above Beverly Hills.” And in the July 2003 In Style, Kudrow discussed her mansion renovations, with the Tower Grove property only being referred to as a “hilltop home” (no town given). “It was supposed to be a small cosmetic job,” she told the magazine at that time, referring to her renovations. “We wanted to raise the ceiling in the bathroom, which meant raising a roof. But then we had to shore up the walls, which meant we had to update the earthquake protection. It ended up taking 10 months.” The few other reports mentioning Kudrow’s home have been more or less vague. In January 2006, the London Mail on Sunday newspaper observed about Kudrow that “even at the height of Friends, she and Stern, who live in a [pounds sterling] 3.4 million Beverly Hills mansion, were rarely seen in public.” And in September 2001, a People magazine article about the three female “Friends” stars being married referred only to Kudrow and Stern’s “home in Southern California.” Kudrow’s same Milval Trust also paid $2,400,000 in November 2001 (recorded in 2002) to purchase a 4,396-square-foot house at 604 N. Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. However, Kudrow does not live in that house, and it’s unclear what her use is for that property. We suspect (although we don’t know) that that’s where Kudrow’s parents live, given that the July 2003 In Style reported that Kudrow’s “mom and dad live just five minutes away.”

Comments

Leave a comment