Homeowner: Otto Ehling

Occupation: Musician

Home Location: Hollywood Hills

Otto is a successful musician who works with big names like Donnie Osmond, professional sports teams and Cirque Du Soleil. His creativity and artistry can all be traced back to the home in which he was raised…and by the man who raised him: George Ehling. Otto’s father (who is now passed) was a Hollywood set-decorator and contractor who purchased the property in the 1960’s with his father’s life savings. He sandblasted the entire home and instead of rebuilding through woodwork, he found a book on mosaics and the rest is history. He spent 49 years painstakingly hand-tiling the entire home, front and back, inside and outside, with tiles he would source from sets, dumpsters and tile shops. When George wasn’t building sets for TV shows and movies he was working on mosaicking the house! He travelled internationally learning the trade and collecting tiles and priceless furniture pieces and artwork to make his own Italian/Byzantine inspired home. George even incorporated props and set pieces from his various productions into the home itself! The home today is a mix of old Hollywood and European renaissance.  

The home is a lasting tribute to a life-long passion and (near obsession) of creating a living and breathing piece of art. Today Otto owns the home with his loving mother and frequently takes his new wife to visit the property. Otto believes that his father taught him numerous life lessons through his life’s work about what it means to be original in art, in design and in your own self-expression! Otto believes he wouldn’t be the artist and musician that he is today without his father and without the home he was raised in. 

• Inspired by Italian mosaics, the home itself features hundreds of thousands of tiles, both on the inside and outside, carefully crafted into various patterns and motifs. There are 52 stairs to get to the front door. The majority of the home is covered in floor to ceiling, hand-placed tiles.

• The home itself is historic as it was built in 1927 for Mae Marsh a silent film actress during the Hollywood golden age.

• Besides the mosaic work, there are set pieces from films that George either worked on or obtained such as the front facing Gargoyles. These came from the film "Murder by Death" starring Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith and Truman Capote.  They are the last molds from that movie known to exist! Other notable pieces come from the infamous Robin Williams film, “The Birdcage.”

• The castle throne chairs in the living room are priceless. George obtained them at an auction. They originally come from an actual castle in Spain and might be worth more than the house itself!

• Otto’s favorite room is the castle bed that his father built for him. A close second is the living room with a grand-piano where Otto learned to play music. Playing the piano in his childhood home is unlike playing anywhere else for Otto.

• The home also has its own dungeon with various rocks, tiles and hanging chains.

• George created life-sized replicas of “tarot cards” out of tile that are an incredible piece of the home’s décor. He originally had the cards mosaicked in Mexico and are over 300 years old!