Timothy Corrigan is a publicity-seeking interior designer doing business as Landmark Restoration.in fact, he created Landmark Restoration as a result of his alleged restoration of the Dorothy Chandler Estate, located in the Hancock Park / Windsor Square area of Los Angeles.
Corrigan is a master of self-promotion in print, on television and on the Internet. He markets himself as an expert in restoring historic properties although he possesses no professional licenses of any kind. He is featured in Architectural Digest on a regular basis; the latest being in the January edition as one of the Top 100 Designers in the world. Kathleen Scheinfeld is his business partner, house-mate and is also credited with the restoration of the Chandler
Estate.
Corrigan bought the Chandler Estate in early 1997, soon after Dorothy Chandler died. He lived at the property, with Scheinfeld, and used it as their principal residence until it was sold to the current owners in 2006. During their ownership, Corrigan and Scheinfeld put excessive strain on the estate and its outdated systems by constantly renting the house out for events, filming, parties, etcliterally taking it to the brink of destruction, never restoring the home as they publicized, before unloading it on the new, unsuspecting buyers.
During Corrigans ownership of the property, he unleashed a campaign of media coverage about the home and publicized himself as having impeccably "restored the estate. Corrigan and Scheinfeld obtained such coverage, for example, in a 2004 Los Angeles Times article, a glossy coffee table book entitled Dream Palaces of Hollywoods Golden Age, on television (Superhomes 2005) and on the Internet.
Here is just a sampling of the press:
Http://www.timothy-corrigan.com/press-details? Pid=21
http://www.timothy-corrigan.com/press-details? Pid=50
http://www.timothy-corrigan.com/press-details? Pid=42
http://www.timothy-corrigan.com/restoration.html
The house has also been featured in countless feature films, print ads, television shows and commercials (Charlie Wilsons War, The Rundown, Nip Tuck, NCIS, Rod Stewarts latest album layout, Vanity Fair, C magazine, etc)
Much of the work Corrigan and Scheinfeld did do at the house, having nothing to do with restoration, was done without proper permits or the benefit of engineering plans or city approvals and caused catastrophic water intrusion, drainage and structural issues for the property that the current owners are still dealing with 5 years later.
Corrigan and Scheinfeld hid the many substantial defects in the home. Corrigan referred to the homes music room as The Mozart Room which he claimed was over 200 years old and brought to the house by the Chandlers from a castle in Europe where Mozart had occupied at one time. He told the current owners that the house was a nationally registered Historic Landmark and that Julia Morgan, of Hearst Castle renown, was one of the architects of the home. Corrigan also regaled the current owners with stories of four U.S. Presidents that had supposedly stayed at the house and told them the house was known as the Western White House. None of those representations were true or verifiable.in fact, experts have forensically tested the Mozart Room and it was determined to have been built concurrent with the house, having paint finishes dating from the 1940s.
Escrow closed in November with the current owners paying the highest price ever recorded in Hancock Park; just under $9 million. Within a short time thereafter, the gas company found substantial gas leaks throughout the property and shut off gas to the property, red-tagging the property.in the months thereafter, the current owners began to discover similarly serious problems throughout the property roofs were rotted and at risk of collapsing, the
sewer lines were rotted and depositing raw sewage in the front lawn, walls and framing members were rotted, rain water had regularly soaked portions of the interior of the home, the electrical system was obsolete, dangerous and defective, the plumbing system was obsolete and defective, the pool needed to be entirely redone, on and on
Ironically, while exposing the current owners to mold, asbestos, leaking gas lines, contaminated soil and water, Corrigan touts himself in the press and on his web-site as being a green designer and has a line of eco-luxury products for sale. Another of the many ironies is that the current owners had to move out of the house when it was red-tagged by the gas company the same month and year that another glowing article was written about Corrigan and his "impeccable restoration" of the Dorothy Chandler Estate!!!
Corrigan and Scheinfeld did not disclose any significant defects in the home to the current owners whether on the real estate transfer disclosure statement or otherwise. There is overwhelming evidence showing that the sellers had actual knowledge of the fundamental defects throughout the property, withheld their knowledge and took actions to cover up the true condition of the home.
The current owners are the ones who have actually restored the chandler estate.
They have repaired and/or replaced every major system in the house from the roofs, plumbing, electrical, drainage, sewers, concrete, pool, irrigation, mold remediation and on and on. There is still much work to do at the house in order to bring the house to the condition in which it was purported to be some 5 years ago when the current owners purchased it completely restored.
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