10050 Cielo Drive | |
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General information | |
Type | House |
Architectural style | French Country |
Location | Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles |
Coordinates | 34°05′38″N 118°25′57″W / 34.093895°N 118.432467°WCoordinates: 34°05′38″N 118°25′57″W / 34.093895°N 118.432467°W |
Construction started | 1942 |
Completed | 1944 |
Demolished | 1994 |
Technical details | |
Floor area | 4,600 sq ft (430 m2) |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Robert Byrd |
10050 Cielo Drive is the street address of a former luxury home in Benedict Canyon, a part of Beverly Crest, north of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, where the Charles Manson "family" committed the Tate murders in 1969.
The residence had been occupied by various famous Hollywood and music industry figures. In 1994, the house was demolished and a new house was constructed on the site and the street address itself was changed to 10066 Cielo Drive.
The original house was designed by Robert Byrd in 1942 and completed in 1944 for French actress Michèle Morgan. It was extremely similar, but not exactly identical, to the house which sat on its own plateau directly below 10050, 10048 Cielo Drive, which was often referred to as the Twin House. They were originally built on land called The Bedrock Properties and were built at the same time.
The French country-style structure was located on 3 acres (1.2 ha) at the end of a cul-de-sac on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area west of Hollywood in the Santa Monica Mountains that overlooks Beverly Hills and Bel Air. The hillside structure faced east and featured stone fireplaces, beamed ceilings, paned windows, a loft above the living room, a swimming pool and a guest house, and was surrounded by thick pine trees and flowering cherry.
Michèle Morgan, French actress for RKO Radio Pictures, had architect Robert Byrd design and J.F. Wadkins build the luxury home resembling an early 19th-century European style farmhouse. The house was completed in 1941, with an address of 10050 Cielo Drive. Beverly Hills, California. By the end of World War II, Morgan had returned to France and in 1946 Lillian Gish moved in with her mother while filming Duel in the Sun (1946).