12 Mar Nigel Lythgoe Dances Away From Pedigreed Bel Air Traditional

Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Price: $13 million
Size: 5,205 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms

Televised talent show tycoon Nigel Lythgoe has slung his posh and pedigreed, circa-1930s residence in L.A.’s tony Bel Air neighborhood up for sale with an asking price of $13 million. Said to be briefly occupied in the 1940s by Lana Turner, once owned by “All in the Family” star Jean Stapleton and later by late philanthropist Nancy Daly, the clapboard-clad and black-shuttered East Coast traditional was acquired by the 12-time Emmy nominated “American Idol” producer and “So You Can Dance” creator almost a decade ago for close to $7.5 million. Listings held by Douglas Elliman’s Bachir Oueida show there are a total of five bedrooms and seven bathrooms across the nearly three-quarter-acre spread that sits down a tiny cul-de-sac where it overlooks the tennis courts and Bentley-filled parking lot of the ritzy Bel-Air Country Club.

Sophisticated and elegantly proportioned formal living and dining rooms both have a fireplace, and the all-white, chef-accommodating eat-in kitchen is arranged around a huge island topped by a thick and lustrous slab of wood. There’s also a paneled library and a family room, both also with fireplaces. In addition to a staff bedroom and bathroom on the main floor, the main house’s second floor has two en suite guest bedrooms and an expansive master suite replete with yet another fireplace plus two marble bathrooms and a fitted dressing hall lined with glitzy, mirrored wardrobes. A two-story guesthouse adds a living room, bedroom and bath.

Outside, a trellised dining terrace with TV-surmounted brick fireplace looks out over the city beyond a grassy yard and swimming pool. And, below the backyard, the lushly landscaped hillside is laced with pathways that wind around a garden pavilion and a red, kitchy-classic  London telephone booth.

Lythgoe, who co-owns the Villa San-Juliette vineyard north of Paso Robles, Calif., also owns a lavish, lakefront villa in a wealthy, guard-gated suburban development in Henderson, Nev., about 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas, which he’s so eager to get rid of, it’s for sale at just under $4 million, a gasp-worthy multimillion dollar loss on the $7 million that tax records show was paid for the property almost 15 years ago.