Imagine stepping onto your patio and looking out across Los Angeles and this was your view. This photo was taken from the home of Arthur Brent (sometimes listed as “Bent”) who lived at 620 Siena Way in Bel Air. This photo is dated 1927 and by the looks of things, it was probably one of the only houses around. (Bel Air was founded in 1923 by Alphonzo Bell, this house was built in 1926.
This is the house that currently stands at 620 Siena Way. It looks old enough to be original. This image is from January 2021.
And this is that same view in 2021:
A bit hard to tell because the far distance is so fuzzy, but it looks like a western view to me.
Maybe slightly southwestern.
Property records show that the existing home at that address was built in 1926, so it’s the house from which the older picture was taken. My guess is that the view is facing south-ish. The house is currently listed for sale for $39,000,000.
This house was featured in Architectural Digest in 1929. Interestingly, the owners names are listed as Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bent, without an R.
Forgot the link: https://archive.architecturaldigest.com/issue/19290101/print
And this article spells it with an R.
https://realtybiznews.com/an-epic-bel-air-estate-620-siena-way-listed-for-43m/98765485/
Martin, I don’t mean to be argumentative but I see “Bent” when I read that article. ?
I did find some older interior pics of the home here: https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/search/collection/photos/searchterm/arthur%20s%20bent/order/nosort
Oops! You’re right! My bad! It must have been a different article where the name was spelled with an R.
And Tessa calls them “Bent” too, I noticed.
This is that one that spelled it Brent:
https://realtybizbiz.realtybiznews.com/tag/arthur-s-brent/
Marked down from $43,000,000…
Is Brentwood named after Arthur Brent?
It’s not. It’s named after Brentwood, England, which was the ancestral home of the area’s founder, John Marsh.
I wondered about that too, John.