Flynn Ranch "House A" by Phillip Jon Brown
A 1987 modernist estate on the land that was once Errol Flynn's Mulholland Farm, designed by architect Phillip Jon Brown. The house, the history, and how to buy an architect-designed home in the Hollywood Hills.
Some addresses carry a story before a single wall goes up. Flynn Ranch Road is one of them. The land near the top of the Hollywood Hills was once part of Errol Flynn's Mulholland Farm, the actor's famous hilltop retreat, and decades after the original estate was gone, architect Phillip Jon Brown built a small enclave of modern houses on the site. The best known of them is Flynn Ranch "House A," a 1987 glass-and-volume home that trades on both its architecture and its Hollywood ground.
Flynn Ranch "House A" is a 1987 modernist residence at 7740 Flynn Ranch Road in the Hollywood Hills, designed by architect Phillip Jon Brown, AIA. The 5,700-square-foot home has four bedrooms and five bathrooms, a screening room, and a wine cellar, and it sits on land that was once part of Errol Flynn's Mulholland Farm estate. It last sold on the open market after a 2014 listing and is not currently for sale.
The house belongs to a private enclave that was planned as four modern estates, of which only two were built. That scarcity is part of the appeal. Where much of the Hollywood Hills has been overbuilt with speculative mansions, Flynn Ranch "House A" is a considered, architect-authored home on a site with genuine provenance.
Debbie Pisaro has spent 24 years working with architectural homes across Los Angeles, and houses with a story like this one, real architecture on famous ground, are exactly the properties she specializes in. This page lays out the full picture: the architect, the Errol Flynn history, what the house actually is, and how a home like this trades when it comes to market.
What is Flynn Ranch House A?
Flynn Ranch "House A" is a 5,700-square-foot modernist home built in 1987 by architect Phillip Jon Brown, with four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and public rooms that step across changing floor levels to follow the hillside. It was designed for privacy and entertaining, with a screening room built for 35mm projection, a wine cellar, and a pool and spa set into terraced patios.
The house reads as a series of volumes rather than a single box. Brown used two-story public spaces and shifting floor elevations so that the interior feels like it is moving with the terrain, and he oriented the main rooms toward the long views across the San Fernando Valley and out to the San Gabriel Mountains. The screening room is the kind of detail that dates the house in the best way, a purpose-built 35mm theater from an era before streaming, a genuinely Hollywood amenity on genuinely Hollywood land.
It sits comfortably alongside the other architect-driven homes of the hills, from the Forrest Theriot House in Laurel Canyon to the Barragan-inspired Outpost Estates house, and the wider circle of Marshall Wilkinson designs in the same terrain.
Is Flynn Ranch House A connected to Errol Flynn?
Yes, through the land rather than the building. Flynn Ranch "House A" sits on ground that was once part of Errol Flynn's Mulholland Farm, the hilltop estate the actor built in the Hollywood Hills in the early 1940s. Flynn's original house is long gone, but the site was later subdivided and redeveloped, and the road name Flynn Ranch Road preserves the connection to his famous property.
Mulholland Farm was one of old Hollywood's legendary homes, a private world Flynn built at the top of the hills. After his death the estate passed through other hands, including the musician Ricky Nelson, and the original house was eventually lost. What remains is the land and the legend, and a home like House A inherits both.
That kind of provenance is not just trivia. In the Hollywood Hills, a documented connection to a figure like Errol Flynn is part of what a buyer is acquiring, and it is one of the details Debbie documents carefully when she represents a home on storied ground.
Who is Phillip Jon Brown?
Phillip Jon Brown is a Los Angeles architect, trained at USC and MIT, known for modern homes that respond closely to their hillside sites. At Flynn Ranch he designed a home that uses stepped floor levels and double-height rooms to work with the slope rather than flatten it, a hallmark of his approach to the difficult, dramatic lots that define the Hollywood Hills.
Building on a steep Hollywood Hills parcel is one of the hardest problems in residential architecture, and it is where an architect's skill shows. Brown's plan for House A turns the constraints of the site into the experience of the house, so that moving through the rooms means moving with the hill and toward the view.
Architect-designed homes like this are a distinct category in the Los Angeles market, priced on authorship and design quality rather than on generic square footage. Debbie's guide to seven iconic architectural homes in Los Angeles and her wider architectural homes collection put houses like Flynn Ranch "House A" in that context.
On a hillside lot, the architecture is the value. A considered plan on a hard site is worth more than raw square footage on an easy one.
How do you buy an architect-designed home in the Hollywood Hills?
Buying an architect-designed home in the Hollywood Hills means valuing the things that generic listings miss: the quality of the design, the integrity of the original architecture, the provenance of the site, and the way the house handles its hillside. These homes are priced against other authored houses, not against the volume-builder spec mansion next door, and the best of them often trade quietly.
A few things matter more than usual at this level:
- Design integrity. How faithfully the house still reflects the architect's original intent drives value more than a recent cosmetic remodel.
- The site and its story. A parcel with real provenance, like the Errol Flynn ground under Flynn Ranch, is part of what a buyer pays for.
- The right comps. An authored home is measured against other architect-designed houses, a Koenig or a Lautner, not the block average.
- Access to quiet inventory. Hillside architectural homes often sell off-market, which is why Debbie's pocket listing network matters here.
This is where an architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles earns their fee. Debbie Pisaro represents buyers and sellers of architecturally significant homes across the city, and she keeps a working knowledge of the Hollywood Hills, from the Outpost to Mulholland, including which homes might quietly come available. For a buyer who wants real architecture on real ground, that network is often the difference between hearing about a house and standing in it.
If you are earlier in the process, the architectural homes guide explains how these properties are valued, Coastline 840's explainer on pricing an architectural home covers why they break the usual math, and Debbie writes about design across the region, from Los Feliz architecture to the coastal neighborhoods she covers statewide.
Who designed Flynn Ranch House A?
Flynn Ranch "House A" was designed by architect Phillip Jon Brown, AIA, who trained at USC and MIT. He built it in 1987 as part of a private enclave of modern estates in the Hollywood Hills, using stepped floor levels and double-height rooms to work with the hillside site.
Is Flynn Ranch House A connected to Errol Flynn?
Yes, through the land. Flynn Ranch "House A" sits on ground that was once part of Errol Flynn's Mulholland Farm, the actor's hilltop estate from the early 1940s. Flynn's original house is gone, but the site was later redeveloped and the road name Flynn Ranch Road preserves the connection.
Where is Flynn Ranch House A?
Flynn Ranch "House A" is located at 7740 Flynn Ranch Road in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, on a hillside site with long views across the San Fernando Valley toward the San Gabriel Mountains. It is part of a small private enclave planned as four estates, of which only two were built.
Is Flynn Ranch House A for sale?
Flynn Ranch "House A" is not currently on the open market. It was most recently offered publicly at 4.25 million dollars after a July 2014 listing. Homes like this often trade off-market, so Debbie Pisaro tracks their status for buyers who want to be ready when one becomes available.
What are the features of Flynn Ranch House A?
The 5,700-square-foot home has four bedrooms and five bathrooms, a screening room built for 35mm projection, a wine cellar, and a pool and spa set into terraced patios. Its two-story public rooms step across changing floor levels and open toward valley and mountain views.
What was Errol Flynn's Mulholland Farm?
Mulholland Farm was Errol Flynn's private hilltop estate in the Hollywood Hills, built in the early 1940s and one of old Hollywood's legendary homes. After Flynn's death it passed through other owners, including the musician Ricky Nelson, and the original house was eventually lost, leaving the land that Flynn Ranch homes now occupy.
How do you buy an architect-designed home in the Hollywood Hills?
Buying an architect-designed home in the Hollywood Hills means valuing design quality, original integrity, and site provenance over generic square footage, and these homes are priced against other authored houses rather than spec mansions. Many trade off-market, so Debbie Pisaro helps buyers reach them through her pocket listing network.
Who is a good architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, the founder of Coastline 840, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader who represents buyers and sellers of architectural and historic homes across Los Angeles, including the Hollywood Hills. She specializes in architect-designed and design-forward homes and can be reached at (310) 362-6429.
Coastline 840 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90026 · DRE #01369110
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, an independent California brokerage, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. Published August 2014, updated July 2026.
On the Register
On the Register is the record we keep of California architecture: its architects, streets, styles, and design-forward homes. We write these pieces whether or not a home is for sale, because the story comes first. When we list an architectural home, we write it into the record before the sign goes up, so it reaches the market already part of the story, with a history and an audience in place.
© 2026 Debbie Pisaro, Coastline 840 · ontheregister.com