5 min readWhen you hear the name “Walt Disney,” countless images might come to mind. Perhaps it’s Walt Disney World Resort—the sprawling, joy-filled destination in Orlando, Florida, home to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and EPCOT. Maybe it’s one of the beloved films produced by Walt Disney Pictures, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Or maybe it’s simply Mickey Mouse.
But before Walt Disney became a household name, he was just a boy from Chicago, Illinois, growing up with his parents, three older brothers, and younger sister. A few years after his birth in the Windy City, Walt’s parents, Elias and Flora Disney, moved the family to Marceline, Missouri, where his uncle Robert had purchased a farm. It was there that Walt first discovered his love of drawing.
He remained in the Midwest into his early 20s before heading to Hollywood to pursue a career in the film industry. At first, he and his brother Roy stayed at their Uncle Robert’s house, later moving just down the street to rent a room from a neighbor.
By the time Walt was able to purchase his first home—for himself and his soon-to-be wife, Lillian Bounds—he hadn’t yet created Mickey Mouse. Like his career, his real estate journey began modestly before eventually growing into something truly epic.
Take a look at the homes Walt Disney owned throughout his life, and see how his creativity and joyful spirit were reflected in the many places he called home.
A Small Apartment in Los Feliz, California
About a year after marrying his wife Lillian in 1925, the newlyweds moved to a small apartment on Melbourne Avenue in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Though Walt and his brother lived down the street from their uncle before he moved to this apartment with his new wife, one could argue that this humble home was his first adult apartment. Details are sparse about this place because he and Lillian were only here temporarily, but the building is still standing today.
A Matching Home With His Brother
After moving out of their Melbourne Avenue apartment in 1927, Walt and Lillian stayed in Los Feliz, moving into a home on Lyric Avenue. According to ABC7, Walt and his brother, Roy, built matching houses right next to each other on this street.
It was in this home’s garage that the animator first created Mickey Mouse. He had just lost the rights to “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit,” so he and a few trusted animators were secretly working to design a new character.
Walt and Lillian moved out of this home in 1933, and it still stands today.
Walt’s Storybook Mansion
By 1932, Walt had already won his first Academy Award for his short film, Flowers and Trees, and his first Honorary Academy Award for his creation of Mickey Mouse in the same year. With this success, Walt and a pregnant Lillian decided they needed a bigger home, and their storybook cottage was built on Woking Way in Los Feliz.
This home has a very charming fairytale aesthetic, which was very apropos for Mickey Mouse’s creator. Coming in at 6,400 square feet, this mansion has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and two half-baths, according to Business Insider.
There’s a screening room and pool, though the current pool is larger than the one Walt and his family would swim in, according to SFGate. Next to the pool sits a mini version of Snow White’s cottage, which Walt had installed for his daughters to wake up to on Christmas morning of 1937. The playhouse had running water and electricity, and it’s still there today.
Though the home is now owned by director Timur Bekmambetov, who reportedly cares greatly about the space’s historic preservation, the previous owners apparently didn’t share the same sentiment. Bekmambetov has been working to restore the property with period-appropriate furniture.
The Disneys moved out of their storybook mansion in 1950, opting for a bigger house near Beverly Hills.
The First Palm Springs House
Not much is known about Walt and Lillian Disney’s first vacation home in Palm Springs. The couple purchased the property in 1948, and it was located within Smoke Tree Ranch, a private residential community in the California desert.
According to Tracy Conrad, the chief operating officer of the official Disney fan club, D23, the home was designed by architect William Cody, who was known for his signature midcentury modern style. The Disney family owned this first Palm Springs home for only a few years, selling it in 1954 to help fund the down payment for the Disneyland site.
The Magical Holmby Hills Estate
After moving out of the storybook mansion, Walt, Lillian, and their daughters moved into an even larger estate on Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood. This Los Angeles neighborhood was quickly becoming a hot spot for celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, making it the perfect place for the highly successful entrepreneur to settle down with his family.
In 1948, Lillian called Harold Janss, the developer of the neighborhood, and purchased five acres of land, working with architect James Dolena to build a two-story, split-level contemporary house. The home was built in a horseshoe-like configuration with two wings and had a vast outdoor space, providing enough room for Walt to fulfill his dream of having a miniature railroad around his property. He dubbed it the Carolwood Pacific Railroad—it was complete with an S-shaped tunnel underneath Lillian’s flower beds, multiple overpasses, and a 46-foot-long trestle. According to Bertolaccini, this pet project would end up being a huge inspiration for Disneyland, which opened in 1955.
To house the control center for the railroad, Walt hired architect John Cowles Jr. to build a red barn on the property, which Walt also ended up using as a workshop. It was inspired by the barn on his family farm in Marceline, Missouri, and fans can see it today in L.A.’s Griffith Park.
Walt lived in this home until he died in 1966. The original house was eventually razed by Gabriel Brener, president and founder of private investment firm Brener International Group, when he bought it a year after Lillian died in 1998 for $8.45 million, according to Forbes. The home was reportedly replete with asbestos, and Brener replaced it with a 35,000-square-foot mansion in 2001.
His Second Smoke Tree Ranch Vacation Home
Disneyland proved to be a successful business venture, so Walt went back to Smoke Tree Ranch and purchased a second, much larger vacation home in 1957. He hired architect Carl Denney to design it, though he was very involved in the design process. The house had three bedrooms and bathrooms, which they split into two wings with Walt and Lillian’s bedroom in one wing and two guest rooms in the other.
As with his previous vacation home, there isn’t much known about the interior. However, it is known that in one of the bathrooms hung a piece of artwork by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, one of Walt’s friends.
In 1963, Walt purchased a Grumman Gulfstream I airplane, which he would take to Palm Springs for a weekend stay at his Smoke Tree Lane abode. He was very involved in the community here, lawn bowling with other residents and horseback riding through the desert with Lillian, according to Conrad. He even had some designers from his studio design some of the guest bungalows on the ranches, which can now be found listed as “Disney Cottages.”
The Disneys still owned this home when Walt died in 1966.
