An estate formerly owned by the wife of writer Dominick Dunne that's perched in the hills above Nogales will go up for auction Thursday.
Ellen Griffin Dunne, who was married from 1954 to 1965 to the best-selling author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair, picked the location for the house on a sprawling ranch owned by her family since the 1920s.
After living in Beverly Hills as an adult, she became ill with multiple sclerosis and returned in the late 1980s to Southern Arizona, where she was born. Her daughter Dominique Dunne, who starred in the horror film "Poltergeist," had been murdered by her boyfriend several years earlier. Ellen Griffin Dunne also was the mother of actor Griffin Dunne, who starred in Martin Scorcese's "After Hours."
The 5,500-square-foot home, at 2550 N. Camino Vista del Cielo, was built in 1990.
People are also reading…
Ellen Griffin Dunne died in 1997, and the home was bought by Wade Dupree, a former executive with Lowe's Home Improvement, and his wife.
Dupree said his wife found the Nogales home, but he knew it was the one for them because two rainbows hung in the sky above it when he saw it for the first time.
"It just turned out to be exactly what we both wanted," he said.
Dupree said he decided to sell the 40-acre property after his wife died in 2007 and he didn't need such a spacious home.
But selling the specialty property in a down market proved challenging, and he began to look at other options.
John Hughes, an associate broker with Southwest Real Estate Auctioneers, said an auction emerged as a viable option for Dupree's home because it's a unique property being sold as property values drop.
"The auction allows everyone who is interested to get together, and the seller drives the deal," Hughes said.
The property originally was listed for $2.2 million, but the price came down to $1.8 million, Hughes said.
The land itself has an interesting history, in addition to being the final home of a Hollywood socialite, Hughes said.
Chicago industrialist Thomas F. Griffin, who founded the Griffin Wheel Co., which supplied wheels for the nation's railroads, bought the 30,000-acre Yerba Buena Ranch in the 1920s. As the Griffin family sold off pieces of the land, it kept 1,000 acres in the family trust. Ellen Griffin and Dominick Dunne were married at the ranch in 1954.
The 40 acres where the home sits was Ellen Griffin Dunne's favorite spot, and she ultimately chose the location for the home because of its views of the surrounding property.
"Every window you look at has a breathtaking view of the mountains and the great Sonoran Desert," Dupree said.
The Auction
The home at 2550 N. Camino Vista del Cielo is scheduled for auction at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28. The auction will take place at the property.
Interested bidders will need to bring $50,000 in certified funds made payable to the escrow account of the title company, Lawyers Title of Arizona. For more details, go to www.SWREAuctioneers.com
DID YOU KNOW
The Yerba Buena Ranch dates back to the 1700s, when it began with a Spanish land grant.
Contact reporter Dale Quinn at 573-4197 or dquinn@azstarnet.com
