Hancock Park manse where Muhammad Ali lived lists for $17M

A house owned by boxing legend Muhammed Ali is back in the ring.

The current owners of 55 Fremont Place in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood are scheduled to list their 11,000-square-foot home this week for about $17 million, or $1,600 per square foot, said listing agent Gary Gold of Coldwell Banker Realty.

Another listing agent is Kristen Lawson of Compass. She is the daughter-in-law of homeowners Michael Lawson and Mattie McFadden-Lawson. Michael Lawson serves as the chief executive officer of Los Angeles Urban League.

Mattie McFadden-Lawson worked as a philanthropist and served as a super delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2016. Her interior design firm MML Design Group oversaw the restoration of 55 Fremont Place. The Lawsons bought the home for $2.5 million in 2001. The couple has adult children and are leaving to live in a smaller place. 55 Fremont Place was listed in 2021, but never shown because of the pandemic, Gold said.

The three-level Italianate mansion features seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms and a ballroom with a restaurant-grade wet bar, Gold said.

Based on more than 1.5 acres of land, 55 Fremont Place was designed by John C. Austin, an architect who was also known for designing the Griffith Observatory. It contains many of its original features such as stone fireplaces, chandeliers and stained-glass windows designed by Lewis Comfort Tiffany of Tiffany & Co., Gold said. The grounds include a pool, a guest house and a meditation garden.

The estate is located in the Fremont Place enclave which was considered an exclusive suburb of downtown Los Angeles a century ago. The area is currently a gated community where the composer Danny Elfman and his wife actress Bridget Fonda formerly resided.

Ali lived at the house in the 1980s. He won his first heavyweight championship in 1964 and retired from boxing in 1981.

Hancock Park homes that have recently sold include a 5,300-square-foot mansion at 426 Lorraine Boulevard, sold for $5.4 million on September 30 according to Redfin.