Nearly every item in this California house is an antique that's been collected or refurbished, and it's listed for $639,000. Take a look inside.
Amanda Goh
- A fairytale-like home with a red-brick facade in Visalia, California, is on the market for $639,000.
- The 3,400-square-foot property has three bedrooms and four bathrooms.
A Visalia, California, home with a distinctive red-brick facade is on the market for $639,000, and its interiors will transport you to "the era of Gatsby," per the listing.
The 3,400-square-foot home — also known as Laurelwood — was constructed in 1931, per the listing.
In the '60s, a prominent local businessman by the name of Don Douglas bought the house and extended the property's footprint with architectural salvage from around the world, listing agent Ruben Olguin told Insider. Olguin holds the listing with his Melson Realty colleague Chris Jolly.
"It was originally just a Tudor-style home — built on the same half acre that it sits on now — but when Don Douglas bought it, he decided he wanted a Victorian mansion," Olguin said. "He built on it for 30 years, and it went from 1,400 square feet to 3,400 square feet."
Douglas lived in the house for over four decades, from 1960 until 2003 when he passed away, Olguin added.
Every room that Douglas added was designed around a single item — like the spiral staircase and fireman pole that he bought at an auction in London, Olguin said.
The property has changed hands multiple times since Douglas' death.
When Douglas died, another family bought it with the intention of turning it into a wedding venue, Olguin said.
"They could never get the variance from the city to turn it into a wedding venue because it's in the middle of a residential block. And then in the real estate crash in 2008, they lost it in foreclosure," he said.
Another family then bought it when it was a foreclosed property and used it to house all their antiques, Olguin said.
"They never really lived in it. They just had parties and gatherings there," Olguin said.
That family then sold the house to Olguin and another investor a few years ago, Olguin said. The two of them bought it in January 2021 for $525,000, per listing records.
Olguin sold the property again months later in August 2021, but ended up getting the house back when the buyer defaulted on the payment, per listing records.
"We sold it on owner carry, so we did the financing. But then the buyer basically defaulted on it, and we got it back through foreclosure," he added.
Although updates were made to modernize the house, a lot of the fixtures are original to Douglas' time.
"We did a restoration on it and brought it all up to today's standards," Olguin said. "We changed a lot of the electrical, a lot of the plumbing, the flooring, and we got it back to life."
Olguin put the property on the market for $749,900 in August 2022, per listing records. It's been listed at $639,000 since January.
Houses in Visalia have a median listing home price of $375,000, per data from real-estate platform Realtor.com. There are currently 389 single-family homes for sale in the area, with prices ranging from $107,000 to $2 million.
Laurelwood, with its $639,000 price tag, is in the mid-price range.
Olguin describes the interior design of the house as "eclectic Victorian," although he says it includes a mix of other architectural styles.
"Don Douglas built it for himself, based on what he wanted. So you've got Victorian style, you've got French Normandy, you've got early American, and there's Gothic too," Olguin said.
Douglas was also a big fan of Disney and Playboy, and there are touches that are inspired by both in the house, Olguin said.
"There's a big cupola out on the front that was designed after buildings on Main Street Disney. The exterior of the house was also done in brick, and that's a lot like the Haunted Mansion ride," he said.
The conversation pit in one of the common areas of the house was also inspired by the Playboy mansion, he added.
Douglas loved to entertain and frequently had guests over at his home, Olguin said.
"He loved people, and he allowed all the schools or anybody that got married to come and take pictures in his yard," Olguin said.
Douglas used to have photo albums of pictures from the people who came and did a photo shoot at his place, Olguin said.
"He would never charge anybody, but he would ask for a copy of one of the pictures that they had taken," Olguin added. "So he had stacks of photo albums that had these high school pictures, prom pictures, wedding pictures, and graduation pictures that had all been taken in the yard of the house."
Almost all the items in the house are antiques that Douglas collected and refurbished for use in his home.
The seats in the breakfast nook are refurbished church pews, while the kitchen stove was originally an 1880s parlor stove that was modified with a gas cooktop on it, Olguin said.
The property has three bedrooms and four bathrooms.
Olguin got to know Douglas and his son after moving to Visalia around 30 years ago.
"I bought a house about a block away from this property, and I was always fascinated by it because it's such a beautiful place," Olguin said.
A few years later, Olguin started working at the same real estate company as Douglas's son.
"I got to know his son really well, and we're still friends. And so he would tell me all the crazy stories about that house," he said. "When the opportunity came to buy it, I talked to my investors and I just felt like we couldn't pass it up."
An ideal buyer would be someone who is into antiques, or someone who has plans to convert it into an Airbnb, Olguin said.
The house is almost equidistant from Los Angeles and San Francisco; it takes about three hours to get to Los Angeles, and slightly under four hours to San Francisco, per Google Maps.
The property is also about 36 miles from Sequoia National Park, known for its giant sequoia trees — the largest trees in the world.
No additional permits are required to convert the space into a short-term rental property, Olguin said.
"It's probably the most well-known house in Visalia. People come by and just ask about it — I feel like I've been a tour guide for the last three years for this house," he added.
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