‘Falcon Lair’ in Beverly Hills asks $10.99M for sale

Falcon Lair, an old Hollywood estate in Beverly Hills once owned by silent screen star Rudolph Valentino, is back on the market for $10.99 million, Gimme Shelter has learned exclusively.

The historic 4-acre property, high up in the hills above Benedict Canyon, once included an 11-bedroom Mediterranean-style villa built by architect Wallace Neff in 1925 for Valentino, who purchased it that year for $175,000, according to reports.

That’s $3.28 million in today’s figures.

The Hollywood OG named the house after “The Hooded Falcon” — a film he longed to make but never did.

Valentino outfitted the home with antiques, imported six European falcons and filled the stables with Arabian horses. But he died the following year, in 1926, at age 31.

By 1953, troubled tobacco heiress Doris Duke, described as a modern day “Cruella de Vil,” who once got away with running over her best friend — he did not survive — bought the estate and lived there until her death in 1993.

The dwelling, sold by the Duke estate in 1998, was ultimately demolished in the mid-2000s. 

Today, the property boasts the original caretaker cottage, a two-car garage and landscaped grounds with Italian cypress trees and gardens — as well as the long-demolished home’s original crests, pillars and gates. 

The sale also includes approved plans to build a 17,000-square-foot mansion designed by Appleton Partners LLP – Architects, with interior design by Mark D. Sikes.

Listing broker Josh Flagg, of Compass and “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” calls the property “a piece of American cultural history.”

The proposed plans for the new residence, Flagg added, are “a modern homage to the original classic, which helped establish the ‘California luxury style’ that defines Beverly Hills today.” 

The current sellers are Jennifer Westphall, founder and CEO of Wavelength Productions, an Emmy- and Tony-winning production company — and her husband, entrepreneur Jeff Westphall, who bought the property for $15 million in 2021.