Did Twilight Stud Rob Pattinson Buy a House?

Ever since he catapulted to international super-stardom in 2008 as the pasty-faced, 200-ish year old vampire Edward Cullen in the supernaturally successful Twilight film franchise, real estate gossips like Your Mama have spent far too much time wondering if and where publicity shunning English actor Rob Pattinson might set down some real estate roots in Los Angeles.

All the gossip glossies and celebrity-based blogs went bug-eyed berserk in summer 2010 when it was revealed 25 year old Mister Pattinson and his on- and off-screen love interest, the usually glowering 21 year old actress Kristen Stewart, were quietly shacked up in a leased Bel Air love nest on a secluded property perched directly above the sensationally scenic Stone Canyon Reservoir. It's not known—at least not by Your Mama—what exactly the young celebs paid for the hush-hush hideaway but we have seen evidence the glassy and very contemporary two-story, 1 bedroom and 2 bathroom cottage had been listed earlier in the year at a whopping $22,500 per month.

Once Miss Stewart and Mister Pattinson packed their bags and hightailed it out of Bel Air their real estate trail went bone dry. Then—listen for the screeching tires—out of nowhere: Kablam! Two days ago Your Mama stumbled upon a meticulously restored and beautifully maintained Spanish Colonial-style residence in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles with a long celebrity provenance and quietly purchased through a mysterious trust last September (2011) for the very-celebrity price of $6,275,000.

Being a curious and industrious beaver, we dug and drilled around in property records and quickly queried a few of our better informed informants, sources and resources who included a leg up by The Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Address Aerial. Several of our contacts determined the house in question was purchased through a trust with various and very direct connections to Rob Pattinson. One of the numerous clues, noticed by Your Mama and pointed out by two of our little helpers, is the purchasing trust's trustee is none other than Nicholas "Nick" Frenkel, the Twittering, long-time manager of Mister Pattinson who is often seen in photographs standing behind his professional charge.

The walled, gated, and no doubt heavily secured house, all but invisible from the street, was originally built in 1921 for an insurance executive by architect Stiles O. Clements. In 1993 the house, then in a sad state of neglect, was purchased for about $650,000 by English actor Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) who fixed it up but good and had it photographed for the November 1998 issue of Architectural Digest. Mister Curry told Los Angeles magazine in 2000 that the extensive xeriscaped gardens, various terraces, amphitheater, and swimming pool situated at the top of the property, required the services of a full time gardener plus a garden consultant on retainer.
Mister Curry listed the house sometime around the turn of the last century for just under three million dollars and sold it in July 2000 for exactly $3,000,000 to a non-celebrity who quickly flipped it at a substantial loss to E.R. actor Noah Wylie who records (and previous reports) reveal scooped it up in October 2001 for $2,600,000.

Mister Wylie held on to the house for about three years when he sold it for $3,325,000 to Oscar winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (JFK, The Aviator, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and II) who flipped the property in less than two years with a significant profit for $5,200,000. Are y'all following along? At the time it was sold to Mister Richardson, it was described in the L.A. Times by celebrity real estate column pioneer Ruth Ryon as having 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in just over 4,000 square feet of interior space with hand carved and hand stenciled ceilings.

We're not exactly sure who purchased the property from Mister Richardson in 2006 but property records are clear that in early September 2011 a trust our (re)sources, including the always impeccably informed Lucy Spillerguts, can link to Mister Pattinson—or at least Mister Pattinson's people—swooped in and scooped up the celebrity-style property for $6,275,000. We find no evidence the house was listed on the open market.

Now listen, chickens, let's use them noodles for a moment, shall we? Even though all signs (and sources) point to Mister Pattinson as the new man of the house, Your Mama has no direct knowledge him ever setting foot on this property. That means it's all just rumor and gossip at this point, just rumor and gossip. Plus, the property seems, at least to Your Mama, a bit extravagant and high maintenance for such a young (and unmarried) man. But, then again, the real estate ways of the rich and/or famous are often so baffling and inexplicable to those on the outside looking in.

None of nearby famous neighbors may currently cope with the same level of global popularity as Mister Pattinson does but they are certainly no strangers to the klieg lights of Tinseltown. Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale used to live a few doors down before they bought Jennifer Lopez's old house off Mulholland Drive and Kirstie Alley has been a long time resident of the immediate vicinity. Michael Balzary, otherwise known as Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is also a new resident of the low-key but very posh 'hood that butts up against Griffith Park; He dropped $4,550,000 last July acquire a gated mini-compound with a long, serpentine driveway.

One more thing, butter beans: Any of you people who have the wild notion to hop in your hoopdie and head on out to Los Feliz to see if you can catch a glimpse of Mister Pattinson setting out his trashcans or pulling out the gated driveway would be wise to just stay at home. Not only is that a damn fool thing to do, the house ain't visible from the street and we imagine Mister Pattinson employs a small army of voraciously choleric security men who would sooner chop your block off than let you roll slowly by or—heaven forfend—stand around in the street with your smart phones gawking and screaming like school girls. Okaaay?

aerial photo: Pacific Coast News