In November 1957, shortly before her marriage to Mickey Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield bought a 40-room Mediterranean-style mansion formerly owned by Rudy Vallée at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Much of the investment to buy the house came from the $81,340 ($726,531 in 2018 dollars) she inherited from her maternal grandfather Elmer Palmer.
Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the "Pink Palace".
It was, according to her, a "pink landmark". Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 ($1,339,804 in 2018 dollars in free merchandise, paying only $76,000 ($678,834 in 2017 dollars) for the mansion itself. It was still a large sum, when the average cost of a house at the time was under $7,500 ($66,990 in 2018 dollars).
The Pink Palace was sold after her death and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr, Cass Elliot and Engelbert Humperdinck. In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year.
(Photos by Allan Grant / Life archive)
Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the "Pink Palace".
It was, according to her, a "pink landmark". Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 ($1,339,804 in 2018 dollars in free merchandise, paying only $76,000 ($678,834 in 2017 dollars) for the mansion itself. It was still a large sum, when the average cost of a house at the time was under $7,500 ($66,990 in 2018 dollars).
The Pink Palace was sold after her death and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr, Cass Elliot and Engelbert Humperdinck. In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year.
(Photos by Allan Grant / Life archive)
