A Palm Springs estate once owned by the late Mary Martin, who in 1954 originated Peter Pan in the Broadway musical, is on the market for $3.95 million.
The 3,456-square-foot, Spanish-style residence sits on roughly two-thirds of an acre in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood. Completed in 1936 and updated, it has six bedrooms, five bathrooms and mountain views from nearly every room.
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Views also abound from the guest house, which has a rooftop deck.
Records show it sold to the current owner in January 1989 for $520,000.
The main house features a formal living room with exposed beams, built-in speakers, a fireplace and hardwood floors. It flows into the dining area. There’s also a separate family room.
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A swing door opens into the kitchen, which features built-in appliances, a counter bar with seating and a breakfast nook with banquet-style seating.
The primary suite has a large walk-in closet and two bathrooms, including one with a shower-tub combo and the other with a walk-in shower off the sitting room. These two rooms offer direct access to the pool and spa, which the seller recently upgraded.
Inside the guest house is a dry bar, a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a glassed-off walk-in shower.
Other improvements include five HVAC units and fully paid-for solar panels.
Brady Sandahl of Keller Williams Luxury has the listing.
The property was once home to the leading lady of musical theater. A plaque near the front gate announces it as The Mary Martin Estate 1936, a highlight of DiscoverPalmSprings.com’s self-guided Palm Springs Stars’ Homes tour.
Martin was an accomplished actress and singer who originated several iconic roles on Broadway. Notably, she played Nellie Forbush in “South Pacific” (1949), the mischievous title character in “Peter Pan” (1954) and Maria von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” (1959). She was the mother of the late actor Larry Hagman, celebrated for his memorable performances in “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Dallas.”
After her second husband and manager, theatrical producer Richard Halliday, died in 1973, Martin bought the home in Palm Springs. A deed recorded in July 1974 is on file with Riverside County.
The biography “Mary Martin, Broadway Legend” by Ronald L. Davis described her then-home as freshly painted pink with a red tile roof, surrounded by “a lovely garden around the pool” that she planted. It was a place where she hosted friends for cocktails and dinner. Her guests included film star Janet Gaynor and her husband, producer Paul Gregory, as well as neighbors such as Walter Annenberg, William Powell, Alice Faye and former President Gerald Ford and his wife, former First Lady Betty Ford.
In 1982, county records indicate she sold her Palm Springs home and re-settled in Rancho Mirage.
Martin died of cancer at her home there in Nov. 1990 at 76.
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