A Pasadena, California, mansion built for a lumber baron and member of the Goodyear family is on the market for the first time in 60 years with a listing price of $12 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dating to 1913, the home, known as Knollcrest, was built for Charles A. Goodyear\u2014not to be confused with his relative Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanized rubber and for whom the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is named. Both men were descendants of Stephen Goodyear, a London merchant who was one of the founders of the New Haven Colony, which had settlements in what\u2019s now New York, Connecticut and other states.<\/p>\n
Goodyear, a collector of custom-made furnishings and artifacts, supposedly commissioned architect G. Lawrence Stimson to design the home to be entirely fireproof, according to the listing with Brent Chang and Ann Gluck of Compass.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of these things that\u2019s been passed down in the lore about the house,\u201d Chang said. \u201cIt was the [Pasadena] Showcase House in 1968\u2014I went back and read the description and it was in there too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since Goodyear worked in the lumber business, he was able to hand-select and treat all of the lumber used to build the house, \u201cmaking sure it was as fireproof as possible,\u201d Chang added. \u201cIt\u2019s also why they used a lot more marble. Usually you don\u2019t see a lot of marble in this time period.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Besides the modernized primary bathroom and the kitchen, the 8,700-square-foot home\u2019s design is entirely original, from the woodwork to the door handles and even the light switches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The size and layout of the 2.5-acre grounds are original, too, which Chang said is unusual for the area\u2019s older homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt retains the original site, and it\u2019s really rare to find that with these big homes because usually throughout the decades, some generation has needed some dough and sold off parts of the lot,\u201d he said. \u201cThat really changes the whole feel of the house.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not only are Knollcrest\u2019s grounds large for the area, but they\u2019re also flat, giving it a parklike setting adorned with palm trees. Behind the home, there\u2019s a swimming pool and a guest house. The property has a total of seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n