A magnificent home befitting the King of Comedy, the house was in all actuality nothing better than a movie set. Nicknamed "Breakaway House" by friends and neighbors, the house had been built by a notoriously frugal Chaplin using studio carpenters.
Despite its tendency to, well, disintegrate, the home was impressive. Visitors entered the home through a thick oak front door that led directory into a two-story hall which ran through the house to French doors that overlooked the back lawn.
Decorated with Oriental carpets and velvet curtains, the great hall featured a huge fireplace, built-in bookcases, a pipe organ, and a beamed oak ceiling.