{"id":349220,"date":"2026-06-06T07:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349220\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T07:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:05:13","slug":"dr-seusss-longtime-san-diego-area-house-sells-for-9m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349220\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Seuss\u2019s Longtime San Diego-Area House Sells for $9M"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNow look at this house!\u201d The former Southern California home of Dr. Seuss, complete with a nod to \u201cThe Cat in the Hat,\u201d has traded hands for $9 million.<\/p>\n

The La Jolla home was built in 1950 for Theodor Seuss Geisel, two years after he and his first wife, Helen, bought the 1.5-acre hillside lot overlooking the Pacific Ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt boasts some of the most stunning panoramic ocean, coastline and mountain views in all of San Diego,\u201d said the seller\u2019s agent Jason Barry of Barry Estates.<\/p>\n

MORE: Real Estate CEO Lists Mansion in North Carolina\u2019s Blue Ridge Mountains for $15.95 Million\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

When Geisel bought the property, there was already a Spanish Revival-style observation tower from the 1920s on the land, and his architect, Thomas L. Shepherd, designed the Spanish-style home so that it would wrap around the tower.<\/p>\n

Geisel lived in the home until his death at age 87 in 1991, writing 42 of his 68 published titles there. The study where he did much of his work remains, as the workspace and the observation tower have been formally designated as historic by San Diego\u2019s Historical Resources Board.<\/p>\n

Following his death, Geisel\u2019s second wife, Audrey, had the house extensively renovated and arranged for the property to be donated to University of California San Diego upon her death, Barry said. She died in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advertisement – Scroll to Continue<\/p>\n

Because the property was owned by the university, it had to be sold in a sealed-bid auction per the state\u2019s Stull Act. The buyers are Ralph Bratch and his wife, Jodi Bratch, who owns the La Jolla children\u2019s bookstore Bird Rock Bookshop. They couldn\u2019t immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Meridith Lacey of Compass represented the Bratches\u2014she didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s been decades since Geisel lived in the home, a door that leads from the pool area inside pays tribute to one of his most famous works\u2014stained-glass panels depict the hand of the Cat in the Hat tipping his hat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: The Most Expensive House in Rhode Island\u2014Around the Corner From Taylor Swift\u2019s Home\u2014to Ask $23.5 Million<\/a><\/p>\n

The single-story home unfolds over about 5,000 square feet. There are four bedrooms, including a primary suite with vaulted ceilings, a fireplace and a window seat looking out at the wide Pacific Ocean views.<\/p>\n

A red-brick patio surrounds the pool and hot tub, off which is a pool house that\u2019s separate from the main home.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNow look at this house!\u201d The former Southern California home of Dr. Seuss, complete with a nod to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[33045,23936,15460,142893,33060,23951,15471,142894,23947,3111,7,450,15463,15474,458,32579,437,15465,15476,452,1300,18,459,15455,15466,84539,84542,142895,15456,15467,434,32575,32577,463,441,7215,40823,35623,40827,35625,388,23946,7725,23948,74,76,75,15458,44511,15469,44512,454,435,436,15477],"class_list":["post-349220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-amenity-amenities-fireplace","tag-amenity-amenities-panoramic-views","tag-amenity-amenities-pool","tag-amenity-amenities-pool-house","tag-amenity_amenities-fireplace","tag-amenity_amenities-panoramic-views","tag-amenity_amenities-pool","tag-amenity_amenities-pool-house","tag-ce-exclusion-filter","tag-ce-industry-news-filter","tag-california","tag-content-types","tag-content-type-content-type-article","tag-content-type_content-type-article","tag-corporate","tag-corporate-actions","tag-corporate-industrial-news","tag-credited-by-mansion-global","tag-credited_by_mansion_global","tag-factiva-filters","tag-gcapi","tag-general-news","tag-industrial-news","tag-integration-apple-news","tag-integration_apple-news","tag-lifestyle-lifestyle-beach","tag-lifestyle_lifestyle-beach","tag-linkendrnrealtime-linkedarticle-snco20260605008431","tag-location-market-california","tag-location_market-california","tag-north-america","tag-ownership-changes","tag-physical-asset-transactions","tag-political","tag-political-general-news","tag-property","tag-property-type-property-type-historic","tag-property-type-property-type-single-family-home","tag-property-type_property-type-historic","tag-property-type_property-type-single-family-home","tag-real-estate","tag-real-estate-listings","tag-real-estate-property","tag-routine-general-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-subject-subject-celebrity","tag-subject-subject-sales","tag-subject_subject-celebrity","tag-subject_subject-sales","tag-synd","tag-united-states","tag-western-u-s","tag-wsj-pro-mansion-global"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}