When real estate developer Jacques Massachi learned that the dilapidated 1904 Victorian farmhouse he’d just bought was, in fact, one of the oldest houses still standing in the area, he scrapped his plans to tear it down—and decided to renovate it for the public instead. Age wasn’t the only factor. Lombardi House is rich in Hollywood history too. Originally built as part of the horse ranch of U.S. Senator Cornelius Cole, it’s named after subsequent owners Philip and Sylvia Lombardi, retired vaudeville performers who purchased the home in the 1940s and loved to entertain on its forested half-acre grounds. After a six-year overhaul, Lombardi House reopened in 2014. The 7,000-square-foot property now functions as a 9-bedroom, 11-bathroom boutique hotel and event space. The rustic white-clapboard barn, with its 35-foot-high vaulted ceilings, is often strung with white lights and used as a party or wedding venue—no doubt the former vaudevillian owners would approve.
When real estate developer Jacques Massachi learned that the dilapidated 1904 Victorian farmhouse he’d just bought was, in fact, one of the oldest houses still standing in the area, he scrapped his plans to tear it down—and decided to renovate it for the public instead. Age wasn’t the only factor. Lombardi House is rich in Hollywood history too. Originally built as part of the horse ranch of U.S. Senator Cornelius Cole, it’s named after subsequent owners Philip and Sylvia Lombardi, retired vaudeville performers who purchased the home in the 1940s and loved to entertain on its forested half-acre grounds. After a six-year overhaul, Lombardi House reopened in 2014. The 7,000-square-foot property now functions as a 9-bedroom, 11-bathroom boutique hotel and event space. The rustic white-clapboard barn, with its 35-foot-high vaulted ceilings, is often strung with white lights and used as a party or wedding venue—no doubt the former vaudevillian owners would approve.
