If you've ever dreamed of owning a piece of Los Angeles history, now's your chance: the Hollywood home of Olympian and former World War II prisoner of war Louis Zamperini was listed for sale Wednesday.
The 3,455 square-foot English Revival home, built in 1922 and owned by Zamperini since 1957, sits high atop the Hollywood Hills overlooking the city.
Having been owned by the Zamperini family for six decades, the home has many of its original details, including a gable thatched roof and country-style kitchen. Also distinctive are its dual master suites, maid's quarters, and 1,400 square feet of attic space.
Listed at $1,999,500, the 15,000 square-foot lot is also notable for its size and was one of the first homes built in the Hollyridge Park subdivision between Hollywood and Los Feliz, which was developed at the same time as the famed Hollywoodland area.
Zamperini, who died last summer at the age of 97, was a Southern California native who ran the 5,000-meter race in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and was later a prisoner of war during WWII. His life was the subject of the 2014 film "Unbroken."
Zamperini personally contributed to many of the home's unique touches, including wood paneling in the dining room, which he often used as his office, and a play area for his children in the backyard.
"He was an avid inventor and tinkerer," said Boni Bryant, one of the home's listing agents. "He built a lot of things that are still in the home and on the ground."
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The property is listed by Bryant and Joe Reichling of Sotheby’s International Real Estate and will be shown to prospective buyers at an open house this weekend.
"It’s really an interesting kind of time capsule," Bryant said. "I expect a lot of people to come to the open house, if not to look at buying the house than at least to see where he lived."
