A look at the late Shirley Temple's very first home
Beloved child actor Shirley Temple Black died surrounded by family at her home in Woodside, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2014. To mark her passing, Yahoo Homes is taking a look at her very first home.
Shirley Temple was born in Santa Monica, California, on April 23, 1928. Her father, George, worked at a local bank; her mother, Gertrude, was a homemaker. The couple already had two sons, ages 13 and 9, but Gertrude Temple was convinced that "if she just had a daughter, she could make her a movie star," according to USA Today, and so she'd persuaded her husband to have just one more child. Variety wrote: "The mother was so sure of the child’s destiny that she played records and read storybooks throughout her pregnancy. And when Shirley was lying in her crib, the same songs filled the air."
That crib sat in the home pictured at the top of this blog post, at 948 24th St. in Santa Monica. (Click on the photo to go to a slideshow.) The stucco bungalow was small, but it "boasted a radio, elevating the Temples among the one-third of Americans so blessed," Shirley Temple later wrote in her autobiography. Its vintage Spanish style is one highly prized in Southern California -- but when Shirley Temple was living there, it wasn't vintage at all; it was virtually new, having been built in 1926.
The family outgrew the home as Shirley's career began to take off, and in 1934, when she was 5, they moved a few blocks away, according to a 2006 article in the local Santa Monica Conservancy News. But then her career really exploded, and the home "couldn't provide the protection and privacy Shirley required." People would wait en masse at her gates. Some would even peer into the windows or knock on the doors. Kidnapping became a real fear.
So the family moved again, this time to Los Angeles' Brentwood area. Shirley's parents bought a home on Rockingham Road that was hidden from the road and overlooked hills that sloped to Will Rogers' polo grounds, according to the Conservancy News: "A photoelectric eye guarded her bedroom door, and every window was fitted with electric circuit sensors leading to local police headquarters. An elaborate outdoor security system was installed, automatically linking nocturnal patrol guards, keyed time clocks located around the property, and the local police station. Any aberration from check-in schedule and the police would arrive, sirens blazing."
Her first home -- the one she left long ago -- may not look much like it did when she lived there, but it still stands. It even thrives: The stucco bungalow gained its most recent owner a few months ago, when it sold for just shy of $2.5 million, after only two weeks on the market.
Click on the photo above to go to a slideshow of the 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,966-square-foot home.
And below you'll find a report about her death from a local news station. Shirley Temple died at her mansion in Woodside, California, outside of San Francisco, which has become an informal shrine for fans paying their respects:
