This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

In 1941, the journalist and screenwriter Leo Rostin wrote.

In Hollywood as in Istanbul or Sioux Falls,

the rich hastened to express their wealth and betray their fitful

groping for status by erecting homes of unnecessary magnitude and splendor.

The man who built many of Hollywood's homes of unnecessary magnitude and

splendor was Wallace Neff.

Neff was a Starkitect.

I know many people find the term star architect a pretty contemptible portmanteau, but Neff really was both famous in his own right

and an architect to the stars.

One of his most famous projects was the renovation of Pickfair, the estate owned by the iconic silent film actress Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks.

When the couple moved into Pickfair, the house sat on a nameless street in an empty neighborhood called Beverly Hills.

If you were lucky enough to be invited to dinner at Pick Fair, you might find yourself seated

next to Babe Ruth, the King of Spain or Albert Einstein. Life magazine called

Pickfair only slightly less important than the White House and much more fun.

That's Los Angeles based reporter David Weinberg.

Neff designed estates for Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, and Groucho Marks.

He designed houses for all three Marks brothers.

Madonna has owned a Neff house, Diane Keaton.

Who's the blonde from Legally Blunt?

Ruth Witherspur?

Yes, she actually owns the, and we better fact check this, the Libby Ranch in Ohio.

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