This 138-Year-Old Los Angeles ‘Unicorn’ House Is Completely Drenched in Purple—and Listed for $2 Million

A house drenched in purple and set on a hill in Los Angeles, CA offers a window into the past.

“I kind of call it a unicorn. Los Angeles doesn't have a lot of 138-year-old houses anymore,” says listing agent Laurie Turner with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Pasadena. “Los Angeles was a big agricultural zone, and people were coming out west for opportunity and land and things that they didn't have on the East Coast and in the Midwest.”

The Queen Anne Victorian on about half an acre was built in 1888 and is listed for $2 million.

“I just love it. It’s such a happy place to be and it's warm and inviting… and although a little dilapidated right now, you can see what it was when Leonora was living there.”

Leonora Pierotti Thomas bought the place in 1979, and her estate is selling it.

“She was an eccentric artist, never married, [who] had the wherewithal to have a home like this, travel the world, entertain,” Turner says. “I've heard stories. I unfortunately never had the opportunity to meet her, but she just sounds like a kick.”

She had a passion for purple.

“It was yellow when Leonora bought it and from what I hear from her cousin, everything about [Leonora] was purple,” Turner explains. “She drove a purple Hummer. The garden hoses were purple. I have a picture that was sent out in memory [of her], and she is with her poodle and she had dyed her poodle’s fur purple.”

The color is prevalent both inside and outside the house and even extends to the newish roof with its purple accents.

The 2,700-square-foot house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms and both the kitchen and primary suite are part of an addition in the past decade. It’s no surprise the kitchen island, some lighting, and several walls are purple.

Everything needs a bit of work. Some of the plaster is coming off the walls, but everything in the house, including the pool, is in working condition.

“I'm calling it a historic restoration project versus a fixer because fixer sounds like a fix and flip,” Turner explains, adding a contractor she consulted said it would cost at least a million dollars to restore it. 

“I'm really looking [for a buyer] who has the vision and the wherewithal to update the home, bring it back to its glory, live in it, and do right by the neighbors and the neighborhood.”

Known as Esperanza House, the home stood on the hill before the streetcar even reached the area.

“[My favorite thing about the house] is the approach as you come up Mount Royal and you see the facade and then the driveway comes up. You wrap around the house, and you see the turret there on the front and the colors in the roof and the filigree across the top of the roof line,” Turner says. “It's a nod to the past and it's my job to find the next steward to keep the chapter going.”