A $50,000 electric bill? The cost of cooling L.A.’s biggest houses in a heat wave this month, even when the temperature was just a bit above the record high of 95 degrees.
There are just under 2,000 units in Los Angeles’ hottest house, a converted mansion on a tree-lined lot on the southwest corner of Mulholland and Vine.
As much as 10,000 air condition units will be used with it as an extra source of cooling, L.A. City Hall said in a statement last week and a county official confirmed.
That’s more than the 1,000 in the average Los Angeles home.
But in this house, the windows are sealed and painted green with the word “climate control” spelled out in gold lettering, and a man wearing a suit and tie greets visitors as he sits in the driveway.
The house may be L.A.’s highest-priced air conditioner, with an $1.4 million ask. It probably would be difficult to sell at even a high-end price.
“It’s a home where no one wants to live,” said Bill Davenport, the chief executive and chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
“You would think that everyone would want to live in a place where everyone wanted to live,” he said. “But our city is so dense, it’s hard to build things where the majority of people want to live.”
The home sits on 6 acres, is heated by an array of oil-fired stoves, and can produce more than 400 electrical hot water pumps — each one turning a small turbine to provide hot water for the entire house.
The home can run off its own solar panels and can also provide heat for the neighbors to its backyard.
It was converted from its former industrial use to provide more space for the family in 2009, said the house’s real estate agent, Marlene Goss. The family was moving out and the real estate agent
