THE NUTTY ASSESSOR: Auction for Jerry Lewis’ Vegas House Starts at $1M

Posted on: June 22, 2024, 09:49h. 

Last updated on: June 23, 2024, 09:47h.

Corey Levitan Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

The longtime Las Vegas home of beloved comedian Jerry Lewis is going up for auction in a week.

The auction will be held during an offer presentation and open house from 2 to 4 p.m. PT June 29, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. All attendees at the auction must pre-qualify or provide proof of funds.

The formal opening bid is set at $999,999, though that’s not the reserve price, which is a secret.

“The seller does have an undisclosed  reserve price and reserves the right not to accept any offer if that reserve price is not met,” reads the listing on Homes.com.

Lewis lived with his wife, SanDee “Sam” Lewis, in the house since purchasing it in 1982. He also died there, in August 2017, of cardiac disease at age 91.

The 7,925 square-foot residence at 1701 Waldman Ave. features 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms but none of Lewis’ original belongings. The last of those were auctioned off in 2018.

The house was built in 1964 on three-quarters of an acre in Vegas’ historic Scotch 80s neighborhood, so named because Las Vegas’ first mayor, Peter Buol, bought 80 acres of land there in 1911, using funds from Scottish investors.

Lewis, born Joseph Levitch in Newark, N.J., was known for being the funny half of the comedy duo of Martin and Lewis in the ’50s, for “The Nutty Professor” and his other zany comedy films in the ’60s, and for hosting the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association’s annual Labor Day telethons from 1966 through 2009.

The Ka-ching of Comedy

Two years after Lewis’ death, his widow sold the house to investor Jane Popple for $1.2 million. Popple, who specializes in celebrity death flips, also owned the late Ted Binion’s house before selling it in 2017.

Popple held the auction of personal items left behind by Lewis’ family, then sold the house for $1.4M in 2021 to Blooming Desert LLC, according to the Nevada Secretary of State’s office.

Blooming Desert, run by real-estate agents Ido Gavish and Todd Butwinick, updated the home with some modern features, but kept original touches, including a crystal chandelier in the entryway, which Lewis had imported from France, a petrified wood fireplace, and a wooden bar/lounge built in the 1960s.

A year later, Blooming Desert defaulted on mortgage payments and the foreclosure sale paperwork was filed with Clark County in September 2023.

That same month, Nevada Trust Deed Services sold the house to a private lending company, Brumbles Capital, which is believed to be its current owner.