‘Avengers’ director Anthony Russo sells Pasadena landmark for $6.25 million
An architectural landmark just traded hands in Pasadena, where Marvel director Anthony Russo sold the famed Cordelia Culbertson House for $6.25 million — or $250,000 more than he was asking.
Russo, who’s directed four films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his brother Joe, owned the one-of-a-kind home for three years. Records show he bought it for $5.8 million in 2018 a few months before the release of his film “Avengers: Endgame,” which became one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
He’ll still be close by in Pasadena. In 2019, he dropped $15.579 million on the Arden Villa, a Palladian-inspired Italianate mansion with a star-studded past of celebrity owners and appearances in the films “Terms of Endearment” and “Billy Madison.”
His new digs are a bit bigger at 10,000 square feet on 2.4 acres, but the Culbertson House boasts an illustrious history of its own. It was built 110 years ago by Greene & Greene, the brother architect duo more famous for the Gamble House, a Craftsman masterpiece and Pasadena landmark that sits about three miles away.
The Culbertson House similarly features Craftsman style but blends it with Asian and Italian influences. Green tile covers the roof of the “U”-shaped residence, wrapping around an Italian-style garden with geometric landscaping and an octagonal fountain.
The home itself spans about 8,600 square feet with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a handful of formal common spaces. There’s a ballroom loggia, foyer with herringbone floors, chandelier-topped dining area and indoor-outdoor living room that expands to the garden outside.
Anthony Russo and his wife, Anne, sit in the garden outside the Culbertson House.
(Todd Cole)
Covering about three-quarters of an acre, the estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Russo, 51, is known for co-directing four films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his brother Joe: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” which became the second-highest-grossing movie of all time. Previously, they produced the sitcoms “Community” and “Arrested Development,” for which they won a Primetime Emmy.
It’s his second home sale in as many years. In 2020, he unloaded a 1940s Cape Cod-style spot in Los Feliz for $3.3 million, The Times previously reported.
Holly Purcell of Compass shared the listing with Crosby Doe of Crosby Doe Associates. Scott Lyle of Compass represented the buyer.