Gallery

Cordhaven was built in 1933 for Errett Lobban Cord (E. L. Cord). The colonial-style, red brick mansion on a ten-acre estate at North Hillcrest Road in Beverly Hills covered 32,000 square feet and contained 16 bedrooms and 22 bathrooms. Impressed by how quickly he received the plans for the “dream house” and the quality of the ideas, industrialist Cord awarded Paul R. Williams the contract over the proposals of many of the important white architects practicing in Los Angeles at the time. Involved in every aspect of planning, E.L. Cord has often been described as one of Williams' "most difficult but stimulating clients." (Errett Lobban Cord: His Empire, His Motorcars, 1984.)

In size the $2 million-dollar mansion was similar to many others built during the 1920s and 1930s in Beverly Hills. The basic contruction was of concrete, brick and wood, but the inclusion of the finest materials, including rosewood, satinwood and hand-painted murals, separated it from all other over-the-top Southern California homes of that era. The opulence of these finishes in addition to the three dining rooms, ballroom, solarium, shooting gallery, two hotel-sized kitchens, underground wine cellar with a bank vault door and guest pavillion were "surpassed by only a few show places across the country." (Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1961) 

The six columned, over-sized, neoclassical portico at the front of Cord's mansion was not unusual in Beverly Hills. What made Williams' plan unique was his design for housing one of Cord's passions — chickens. Cord had many interests but raising chickens was almost an obsession. The chicken coops were "constructed in the same style as the main house, with brick floors, wood paneling, and satin drapes ... his favorite birds reportedly ate and drank from gold dishes." (Charles Lockwood. Dream Palaces: Hollywood at Home, 1981)

In 1929 Cord controlled over 150 companies including the Auburn Automobile Company (the maker of the iconic Cord and the Duesenberg). With Cordhaven showplace successfully completed, Williams began to be noticed by many of the Los Angeles powerful. Williams would later design a Nevada vacation ranch for Cord's immediate family and an inn for a relative in Lovelock, NV. The Cord's Nevada ranch and the Lovelock properties still exist, but Cordhaven was demolished in 1963 and developed into 13 separate parcels.