Gretchen Mol and Tod ‘Kip’ Williams Sell Venice Cottage Above Asking
SELLERS: Gretchen Mol and Tod “Kip” Williams
LOCATION: Venice, CA
PRICE: $1,910,000
SIZE: 1,585 square feet, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms plus guesthouse
YOUR MAMA’S NOTES: Though the deal went down in the early summer, it’s only recently come to light that New York City-based actress Gretchen Mol and her vintage airplane flying filmmaker husband Tod “Kip” Williams (“Cell”) sold their petite if hardly inexpensive pied-a-terre cottage in Venice, CA, for $1.91 million, a hefty chunk above its $1.695 million asking price. The former “Boardwalk Empire” star, currently on the Hulu original series “Chance,” and Mister Williams, son of world-class architect Tod Williams who was selected this summer along with his professional partner Billie Tsien to design the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago, purchased the property in September 2005 for $1.505 million. The completely updated bungalow, which the couple previously had on and off the market a number of times between July 2013 and December 2014, was built in 1914 and measures in at 1,585-square-feet with two bedrooms and two bathrooms plus an additional bedroom and bathroom in a detached structure in the backyard.
A small sun porch that overlooks a flagstone paved terrace does double-duty as a foyer and links through to adjoining living and dining rooms, both with dark stained wood floors offset by crisp white walls and period moldings. The living room has built-in bookshelves that flank an original brick fireplace and the dining room has a built-in buffet and French doors to a dining terrace along the side of the house. The all-white kitchen, outfitted with slab marble counter tops and backsplashes, opens to a charming, window-lined dining nook with built-in banquette seating. One of the bedroom opens through French doors to the sun porch while French doors in the other bedroom lead to a small deck and grass pad that doubles as a gated off-street parking spot for one car. The detached guesthouse, located in what was probably once a single car garage, has a high-pitched ceiling, unexpectedly large bathroom with claw-footed tub, and an over-sized laundry room with loads of built-in storage.
Miz Mol and Mister Williams reside primarily in New York City — as of a couple of years ago they lived in a casually sophisticated and “quietly curated” duplex apartment in a townhouse building in the Chelsea neighborhood — and they also spend time on the scenic shore of Torch Lake in Alden, MI, at a property that has been in Mister Williams’ family since the early 1900s.
Listing photos: Compass
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