Hot Property: Actors, architects and others

By Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale

March 25, 2017 12:05 AM PT

One never knows which property record will reveal an owner of note. This week’s offerings include the actress who played the mom on the 1980s hit television show “Family Ties,” a choreographer who continues to clean up on “Dancing With the Stars” and a former college football coach.

Once you’re done checking out these star-studded home deals, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week. That’s also a great place to leave us a story tip.

— Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale

Cutting a Santa Monica tie

Veteran actress and producer Meredith Baxter has sold her longtime home in Santa Monica for $4.589 million.

Set among trees on about a third of an acre, the leafy property includes a rustic contemporary-inspired home and a guest house for a total of five bedrooms and four bathrooms in about 4,500 square feet of space.

The wood-clad main house, built in 1972, features vaulted ceilings, walls of irregular windows and brick fireplaces in the living room, eat-in kitchen and master bedroom. The upstairs art studio opens to deck space.

Outside, a wood-plank pathway leads to the swimming pool.

Baxter, 69, gained fame in the ’70s and ’80s for her roles on the TV shows “Family” and “Family Ties.” More recently, she appeared on the series “Finding Carter,” “The Young and the Restless” and “Code Black.”

Where he watches the soaps

Justin Hartley of the NBC series “This Is Us” has bought a home in the Valley Glen area.

Completed last year, the two-story house was purchased by the onetime “Passions” and “The Young and the Restless” actor for about $1.67 million. Combining farmhouse and traditional elements, the Cape Cod-influenced house includes such details as wide-plank floors, horizontal wood paneling and crisp white molding and wainscoting.

A great room with a fireplace, a formal dining room, a center-island kitchen, five bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms are included in the 5,000 square feet of living space. There is a swimming pool and a three-car garage.

The Emmy-nominated Hartley, 40, also has appeared on “Smallville” and “Revenge.”

Goodbye to ‘Liars’ lair

Actress Ashley Benson, who stars on “Pretty Little Liars,” has sold her home in Hollywood Hills West for $2.65 million.

The remodeled French Normandy-style house, built in 1938, has contemporary interiors. A rotunda entry, a wood-paneled library, an updated kitchen, an office/lounge, three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms are within the 3,100 square feet of living space.

Outdoors, a flagstone patio surrounds a swimming pool and spa. Steps near the pool lead to a cabana.

Benson, 27, has television credits that include “Days of Our Lives,” “Supernatural” and “Eastwick.” She bought the property four years ago for $2.2 million.

Dance star’s two-step

“Dancing With the Stars” regular Mark Ballas has made a couple of moves off the dance floor, selling a home on the Westside and buying another in the Laurel Canyon area.

On the sale side, Ballas parted with a Mediterranean-style home in the Beverly Crest area for $3.125 million in an off-market deal. The roughly 4,900-square-foot home, built in the 1970s and since renovated, includes two kitchens, two family rooms, four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms.

The house he bought, for $1.5 million, has some 2,000 square feet of white-walled living space with living and dining rooms, an updated kitchen, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Ballas, 30, is a two-time winner of the dancing competition series.

Ex-Cal coach scores

Former UC Berkeley football Coach Sonny Dykes has sold his home in Piedmont, in Northern California, for $4.35 million — $100,000 over the asking price.

Dykes bought the property four years ago for $3.45 million.

Beyond the two-story entry, the 1920s home includes formal living and dining rooms, a den with a wet bar and an updated kitchen with a marble-topped island on the main floor.

There are five bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms and four fireplaces within the nearly 5,900 square feet of living space.

Dykes, 47, was let go from his position at Cal in January after compiling a 19-30 record in four seasons. He since has joined the Texas Christian University football program as an offensive analyst.

Our favorite fishbowl

We see a lot of houses. One that truly captured our imagination last week was architect Dan Meis’ Calabasas area post-and-beam, for sale at $2.25 million.

Meis, known for designing modern stadiums and sports arenas around the world (think Staples Center), renovated the 1970s glass-clad house. A mix of new and original materials preserves the home’s vibe. From the inside, the surrounding oaks and mature trees feel like part of the living space.

The nearly 3,000 square feet of open-plan house was originally designed by Malibu-based architect Douglas Rucker.

A bubbling rock waterfall adds another layer of serenity to the acre-plus site.

His favorite room

When he started hosting “The Doctors” in Los Angeles, Nashville physician Travis Stork didn’t know how long the CBS daytime talk show would last. So he rented a 1,000-square-foot Hancock Park apartment. As one season has rolled into nine, the Emmy-nominated host has settled in. His favorite spot is his peaceful living room.

"It's one of the few places in L.A. where I can find a lot of peace and quiet," the physician says of his home.

From the archives

Ten years ago, actress Lindsay Lohan sold a West Hollywood condo for close to its asking price of $2.495 million. She had bought the three-bedroom Sierra Towers unit a year earlier for $1.9 million.

Twenty years ago, then husband-and-wife actors Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith bought the Brentwood house they had been leasing from actress Michelle Pfeiffer for about $3 million. The couple had been renting the four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot house in the $15,000-a-month range.

Thirty years ago, actress Jane Seymour sold her Los Angeles home, in the hills above West Hollywood, to supermodel Cheryl Tiegs. The four-bedroom, seven-bathroom home went for $1.65 million, fully furnished.

What we’re reading

Good design is everywhere. We were drawn to the simple approach of this ski house in northern Hokkaido, Japan. See how the roofline of the two-story home mimics the volcano in the background? A trio of windows on the main living level frames views of snow-covered tree branches.

Using wood as a building material enables homes and structures to extend way outside the box. The results can be whimsical, soothing and cozy. The Guardian offers an eye-popping collection from the new book “Wood,” by William Hall.

Meanwhile, in New York, an Amagansett mansion designed for Fabergé cosmetics mogul Samuel Rubin has listed for $7.5 million. The 5,500-square-foot renovated home, set on 5.3 acres, features a stone fireplace, vaulted ceilings, exposed cedar beams, bluestone floors with radiant heat and a curved, floor-to-ceiling corner window, Newsday reports.