Whitley Heights 101

2075 Watsonia Terrace

2075 Watsonia Terrace was built in 1937 by owner Eleanor Kinsey De Witt by Meyer & Holler. Meyer & Holler, was also known as the Milwaukee Building Company was known for building both the Grauman’s Chinese and Egyptian theaters, Cafe Montmartre, First National Bank of Hollywood, Hollywood Athletic Club and several homes, including Mary Pickford’s mother, Charlotte, home on Fremont Place in Hancock Park during the 1920s. 2075 Watsonia Terrace was featured in the December 1938 issue of California Arts & Architecture magazine:

The owner, Eleanor Kinsey De Witt was born in 1878 in Western Union, Iowa to William and Henrietta Kinsey. Her father migrated to the United States with his family from Talgarth, Wales circa 1852 and settled in Iowa. William married his wife in 1871 and Eleanor (Ella) was born a year later. In 1872, her younger sister, Myrtle was born, but died two years later. Ella’s younger sister, Charlotte “Lottie” was born in 1877. Eleanor began working the vaudeville circuit for theaters in the northeast in 1902. In 1904, she appeared in “Wanted-A Groom” at Proctor’s 23rd Street Theatre under the name of Eleanor Vaughn Kinsey. The play was written for her by George Cockburn Harvey, who wrote the original “Robin Hood” novel.

In January of 1906, she suddenly married Clarence De Witt; she was 28 and he was 23 years old. De Witt, was a former Yale student who played on the football team. De Witt, left several young ladies with broken hearts as it was reported that Helen Smythe of Chicago had expected to marry him and in 1900, his engagement to Gertrude Wiltbank of Philadelphia was announced. After the two honeymooned in Bermuda, they settled in New York City and De Witt began working for Meadows, Williams and Company, a brokerage firm. It was rare for such a young man to have a seat on Wall Street. Unfortunately in 1908, De Witt ran into financial and legal trouble after he was arrested for grand larceny. He and the owner of the company, H.G. Meadows, were both arrested for embezzling money.

After a very public trial in which De Witt testified against the company and claiming he was the “angel”, he was exonerated of all charges and had to file for bankruptcy. He managed to run a new cigarette company in 1914 but was not involved in the New York stock exchange any longer. Meanwhile, Eleanor’s parents decided to move from Iowa to Long Beach, California in 1914 and purchased a plot of land located at 2315 E. 2nd Street, just four blocks from the beach. However, Eleanor’s mother, Henrietta Kinsey, died three months later. Charlotte, Eleanor’s younger sister decided to move in with her father.

On the morning of March 8, 1919, there was an explosion at 2315 E. 2nd Street after a portable heater exploded when Charlotte entered the bathroom and attempted to light it. William was sleeping in an adjoining bedroom while Louise Clark, a guest was sleeping in the front of the house. The bungalow was almost completely demolished as one side and the rear of the house was blown away from the force of the blast; rafters flew through the roof and the chimney toppled down. A passerby ran into the home and found Charlotte engulfed in flames and wrapped her in a blanket and was able to put out the fire in the bathroom. Charlotte was rushed to a nearby hospital and had suffered burns over her entire body. William and the guest suffered minor injuries from the flying glass. Charlotte died in the hospital four days later.

Eleanor, who was divorced from Clarence by now, moved to Los Angeles to take care of her father. They repaired the bungalow in Long Beach, but Eleanor set her sights on Whitley Heights. In May of 1922, she hired architect Arthur S. Barnes to build a two-story house located at 6738 Wedgewood Place and moved in there with her father when it was completed. In September of 1927, 88 year old William Kinsey died in the home where he and Eleanor were living. Below, the red arrow indicates the location of 6738 Wedgewood Place. The house below it to the left is 2075 Watsonia Terrace; 2074 would be built to the left in 1937.

While Hobert Whitley may have been the king of Whitley Heights, Eleanor was definitely the queen. She decided to build another house directly below her house. In July of 1928, she hired contractor John Blair and architect Nathan Coleman to construct a two-story 8 room house located at 2075 Watsonia Terrace. This house was modeled after a house that was situated on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.

De Witt continued to reside in the Wedgewood Place property in 1929 before she moved into Villa Vallombrosa from 1930 through 1933. In 1934, she may have went back to New York before returning to 6738 Wedgewood Place in 1935. Between 1934 and 1935, clothing designer Gilbert Adrian resided at 2074 Watsonia Terrace with his mother. Between 1936 and 1938, Eleanor moved into a townhouse at the bottom of the hill located at 2044 1/2 North Highland Avenue (now called Palazzo Verde). She was the landlady of Whitley Heights collecting all the rent money.

De Witt decided that she wanted to live in a smaller house so she hired the firm, Meyer & Holler to build her a one-bedroom house right next to Villa Vallombrosa. The houses were so close to one another, they practically touched one another.

Eleanor moved into 2075 Watsonia Terrace after the house was completed in 1938. She rented 6738 Wedgewood Place to designer Baron G. Meyer and 2074 Watsonia to designer W. Thomas Menefee. After she moved into 2075 Watsonia, she expanded the house to 1,800 square feet and two-stories with the following rooms: entry foyer, living room, formal dining room, butlers pantry, galley kitchen, powder room, formal library connected to the master bedroom, master bathroom and a stairwell leading to the guest room with attached bath on the ground floor.

Eleanor remained at this house until 1940. In 1950, she moved back next door while British actor Melville Cooper rented this house. Cooper was born in England in 1896 where he started acting on stage and moved to Hollywood during the 1930s where he appeared in over 100 films until his death in 1973. He appeared in notable films such as “The Private Life of Don Juan” in 1934 starring Douglas Fairbanks, “The Adventures of Robing Hood” in 1938 starring Errol Flynn, “Rebecca” in 1940 starring Laurence Oliver and Joan Fontaine, “Father of the Bride” in 1950 starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and “Around the World in 80 Days” in 1956 starring David Niven. Cooper was married three times and while he rented this house he was living her with his third wife.

In 1956 while Frederick Rheinstein and his wife, actress Pat Horn rented this house. Rheinstein was a television producer and director who earned a place in history when, while working for NBC, his cameras captured the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. He later achieved success as the founder of the Post Group, a prominent post production facility in Los Angeles. His wife, Pat (pictured below) started her career as a ballet troupe at Radio City Music Hall, danced in Broadway Musicals and ended up dancing with two partners, calling themselves “The Hamilton Trio”. After marrying Rheinstein, they moved to Hollywood and she appeared with Gene Nelson in the film “So This is Paris”. She retired from show business after she had two children; the Rheinsteins divorced in 1974.

When Eleanor died in February of 1959 she was living next door at 2074 Watsonia Terrace. Below is Eleanor in front of the fireplace at Villa Vallombrosa.

2074 Watsonia Terrace went up for sale in April of 1960. This house went on the market in October of 1960. De Witt may have sold 6738 Wedgewood Place in the early 1950s as the same owner lived there until his death in 1985; an estate sale occurred at the house in 1988. Eleanor K. De Witt was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood. She did not have any immediate family left at the time of her death. The legend is that her spirit roams the halls of 2074 Watsonia Terrace as “the queen of Whitley Heights!”