The Hancock Park - Wilshire neighborhood is bounded by La Brea - Western - Melrose and Pico (entire colored area.) It includes Hancock Park (turquoise, which is a City of Los Angeles Historical Preservation Overlay Zone), Windsor Square (purple) and other diverse neighborhoods (yell0w.)It's hard to imagine that this land was once dotted with oil fields.
Hancock Park was developed in the 1920s, by the Hancock family, with profits earned from oil drilling in the former Rancho La Brea (much of which is now the Miracle Mile district). Hancock Park owes its name to developer-philanthropist G. Allan Hancock, who subdivided the property in the 1920s. Hancock, born and raised in a home at what is now the La Brea tar pits, inherited 4,400 acres (18 km2), which his father, Major Henry Hancock had acquired from the Rancho La Brea property owned by the family of Jose Jorge Rocha.
Some 71 oil wells were operating at capacity on the land from 1905 to 1910. Nine years later Hancock subdivided the property into residential lots. He leased 105 acres (0.42 km2) to the Wilshire Country Club with an option to buy. The Hancock Park development was started on Rossmore Avenue and moved west to Highland Avenue in 1921. [Wikipedia]
The median sale price of a home in the Hancock Park - Wilshire neighborhood rose from $1,150,000 in 2006 to a peak of $1,209,000 in 2008. In 2009, the median sale price dropped 27% to $880,000. This decline in median price following the burst of the real estate bubble is parallel to those found in other neighborhoods.
The highest priced sale in 2009 was $10,000,000 for the Ahmanson estate at 401 S Hudson Avenue. This 1.5 acre property includes a house with 8 bedrooms, 12 baths and 14,071 sq ft of living area. It had been on the market 340 days and sold at a 20% discount to its $12,500,000 asking price.
Other 2009 sales include 68 Fremont Place, a remodeled Paul Williams manse, that sold for its $5,995,000 asking price. The property includes an 8,544 sq ft house with 7 bedrooms and 8 baths on a 21,475 sq ft lot.
210 S Windsor Boulevard in the Windsor Square neighborhood sold for $3,700,000. This 1924 construction includes 4 bedrooms, 5 baths and 7,242 sq ft of living area on a 12,340 sq ft lot.
515 Lorraine Boulevard sold for $3,260,000. It has 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, 6,843 sq ft of living area on a 16,200 sq ft lot.
Not every property in this area is a polished estate. Many foreclosures, short sales and distressed properties changed hands, resulting in the significant decline in median sale price. This bank-owned property with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1,518 sq ft of living area on a 7,000 sq ft located at 600 N Lucerne Boulevard sold for a mere $305,000.
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