James Dolena

James Dolena was born in Russia on May 17, 1888.[1] He emigrated to the United States in 1905.[2][3] He was trained as an architect and a painter.[2]

Dolena first moved to Los Angeles to install a mural with Hubert Valentine Fanshaw, and spent the rest of his life there.[2][3]

In 1926, Dolena designed a house for the silent actor Hobart Bosworth, a 3.2-acre mansion located at 809 North Hillcrest Road in Beverly Hills, California.[4][5][6] The interiors were designed by William Haines and the gardens by Benjamin Martin Purdy.[4] In 1933, William Powell and Carole Lombard purchased the house, and the following year, Dolena redesigned it.[2][5][6][7] In 1969, the producer Albert R. Broccoli bought it,[4][5] and in 2005, the interior designer Kelly Wearstler bought it.[4][5]

In 1931, Dolena designed the Garden Apartment and Retail Shop, an apartment house in Westwood, Los Angeles.[1][8] The following year, in 1932, he designed the private residence of film director Richard Wallace in Bel Air, Los Angeles.[1][9][10] Later in 1932, he designed the private residence of actress Constance Bennett in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.[11] In 1936, he designed the home of Ingle Barr, a renowned book collector, in Beverly Hills, California.[12][13] From 1934 to 1937, he designed the Farmers Market in the Fairfax District, Los Angeles.[14]

From 1937 to 1939, Dolena designed Casa Encantada located at 10644 Bellagio Road in Bel Air, Los Angeles for Hilda Boldt Weber, heiress to the Charles Boldt Glass Co.[15][16][17][18] The interiors and furniture were designed by T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings.[2][15] It spans 8.4 acres (3.4 ha) and has sixty-four rooms.[15] In 1950, hotelier Conrad Hilton purchased it for $225,000.[2] He sold it to David H. Murdock for $12.4 million in 1979.[15][19] Gary Winnick purchased it for $94 million in 2000.[15][20][21]

From 1937 to 1940, Dolena designed the Boddy House for Manchester Boddy on the grounds of Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, California.[22][23] In 1939, he designed the private residence of George Cukor.[24][25][26] William Haines was the interior designer.[24] The same year, he designed the house of Col. David L. Reeves in Santa Barbara, California.[1][27] In 1940, he designed the B.T. Gate House in Brentwood, Los Angeles.[1][28]

In 1949, Dolena designed the Walt Disney Estate, a 5,669-square-foot, seventeen-room mansion, for Walt Disney and his wife Lillian Disney in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.[29][30][31]

Dolena lived in Brentwood, Los Angeles, in a house he designed in 1935.[32][33][34]

Dolena died on June 12, 1978, in Los Angeles County, California.[1]