For sale: a piece of New Port Richey's Hollywood connection
The restored Becker mansion, one of the last survivors of the city's glamor era, is on the market for $1.7-million.
By JODIE TILLMAN
Published July 1, 2007
NEW PORT RICHEY - For sale: Pink waterfront mansion built in 1925 by a Northern industrialist, possibly slept in by a former child actress.
Asking price: $1.7-million.
One of the last remaining homes from this city's glitz and glamor era, the two-story Spanish-style mansion on 5525 Bamboo Lane is for sale after nearly four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in restoration work.
"We've brought it back to life," said Ron Scott, 60, who owns the home on the Pithlachascotee River with his wife, Wanda, and another couple, David and Sandra Booth.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom home -- with 3,170 square feet of living space -- was built by James H. Becker. His family ran the Ohio-based Elmore Manufacturing Co., which first made bicycles and then cars before it was sold to General Motors.
Construction of the home took place during a time when New Port Richey aspired to be a resort town for Hollywood stars.
In a breathless account, the New Port Richey Press in 1926 said "celebrities famous the world-over" were scooping up properties for their winter homes.
"No other community of like size in the limits of Florida can possibly be subjected to the calcium glare of publicity," the newspaper reported.
The story of what happened next is now familiar: The land boom busted. The Depression came. And the city's most famous booster, Hollywood silent screen star Thomas Meighan, died.
One of the later inhabitants of the home was the aunt of Shirley Temple's husband, said Zoe Green, the Prudential Tropical broker handling the sale. Temple is believed to have visited the home as an adult, though it is unclear when, said Green.
By 2003, the Becker home was run-down and appeared destined to meet the same fate as the Warren E. Burns mansion next door.
Burns' place, a cream-colored mansion captured in postcards of the day, had been in such disrepair that its new owners tore it down in 2002.
But the Scotts weren't put off by the cost and time. Ron Scott was an architect, and he and Wanda spent years restoring a dozen homes in Great Britain where old houses are really old. Their previous work includes a 17th century home.
The Scotts and the Booths (Wanda Scott and Sandra Booth are sisters) paid $450,600 for the New Port Richey home in December 2003.
"They were the right buyers of the home, "said Green, who is also the Scotts' daughter.
Sub-flooring had to be replaced. Termites had to be dealt with. An undersized air conditioner had to be replaced.
The couple added a kitchen and equipped the bathrooms with modern fixtures but kept many other things the same, including the original heart of pine wood floors and etched ceiling beams.
It was, recalled Wanda Scott, "lots and lots of slogging, hard work."
Frances Clark Mallett, 87, whose roots run deep in west Pasco, said she remembers seeing the Becker mansion -- along with the Burns home and golf legend Gene Sarazen's residence -- on Jasmine Point when she was a girl.
"They were beautiful," she said of the homes.
She said she was happy to hear the Becker place had been restored. "Everything is torn down," she said. "And it always breaks my heart."
Most people looking to buy waterfront properties these days want new homes, said Green. That is why Prudential will also market the home to international buyers who may have a deeper affection for historic homes, she said.
The Scotts, who have lived at the home amid the renovations, say they are proud that their work has given the Becker mansion another chance.
"Now that it's in this condition," said Wanda Scott, "nobody would ever dream of tearing it down."
Jodie Tillman can be reached at (727) 869-6247 or jtillman@sptimes.com.