Along the outskirts of Joshua Tree National Park in California lies an iconic home known as the Kellogg Doolittle House—which is now mired in a scandal.
Two women have accused the property’s current owner, music industry businessman Scott Leonard, of drugging and assaulting them when they visited the famous house, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The women, singer-songwriter Jamie Lee-Dimes and artist Courtney Barriger, are suing Leonard, who has not yet been charged with a crime. Both women filed police reports, and in response to our inquiry, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said the “investigation is ongoing and no additional information is being released at this time.”
(Photos courtesy of @jamieleedimes; @courtneybarriger)
Barriger did grant an interview to the Times, saying of Leonard, “When he invited me [over], I really wanted to see his house. Like, what could go wrong?”
“He’s out there in the desert, and he has this fancy house,” the women’s lawyer, Nick Rowley, said in a press conference covered by FOX 11 Los Angeles. “It’s a one-of-a-kind house. And he lures people in.”
Considered the foremost example of organic architecture, the home was hand-built into the desert by Frank Lloyd Wright‘s protégé Ken Kellogg and master craftsman John Vugrin.
Commissioned by artist couple Bev and Jay Doolittle, the home took more than 25 years to complete. It makes ingenious use of its desert surroundings, organically embedded into the ancient sand and boulders. The unique house has 16,000 Instagram followers.
The home has been the site of music industry parties—Alicia Keys recently played a private concert there—and was even listed on Airbn b, with 100% of guests giving it a five-star rating. But since news of these allegations broke, the house has been removed from the short-term rental site.
Our inquiries to the home’s official Instagram account, @kellogg_doolittle_official, and the website kelloggdoolittlehouse.com did not receive a response.
“This is the famous Kellogg Doolittle estate in Joshua Tree California. It is one of the most exclusive homes in the world, and available for the first time as an Airbnb Luxe exclusive,” said the Airbnb listing before it was removed. “The Kellogg Doolittle home offers unparalleled privacy, quiet, park access, and remote property bouldering. Step away from the rest of the world in this one-of-a-kind home.”
For $6,700 a night, guests were promised immediate access to Joshua Tree, which sits right outside the doors, and three bedrooms, each with astonishing views.
But it is in one of those bedrooms that Dimes told the Times that she was assaulted on a circular bed in 2022.
Dimes, a musician, told the Times she went to the famous house at his invitation to sing him some of her songs. Yet while there, Dimes claims she felt drugged with a “heavy tranquilizer” and was allegedly raped, though her recollections are “foggy.”
According to the Times, Barriger, an artist and fashion model, alleged that she had a similar experience at the house a year earlier in 2021 where she was drugged and then Leonard tried to sexually assault her.
“He invited both of these women to [the house to] come and play and sing, which they did. He put illegal drugs in their drinks, and sexually assaulted them, and fully raped one of the women,” said Rowley in the press conference. “You go to a famous house … you go sing your heart out. And the next thing you know, you’re out of sorts, in and out of consciousness, and someone’s raping you … Imagine the horror.”
How sexual assault allegations can affect a home’s value
With the house no longer listed on Airbnb, it’s unclear what will happen with bookings. Airbnb has not returned a request for comment by Realtor.com®.
However, some real estate professionals predict that this gorgeous home’s reputation may end up severely tarnished by these allegations.
“This is a perfect example of how a property value will be affected negatively by a sexual assault scandal,” says Sonia Christian-Bendt of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Properties. “The house value will be negatively impacted until he leaves.”
And even then, she thinks it will take some work to undo the damage as a short-term rental, adding that the new owners will “need to create a new ambiance and have a security feature.”
She also points out that alleged serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein‘s Manhattan townhome only sold after a $23 million price cut, despite being one of the most unique and desired homes in the city. In March 2021, former Goldman Sachs executive Michael Duffey bought the property despite its infamy for $51 million, with the proceeds going to a trust for the victims.
Cara Ameer, a licensed broker in California, agrees the Kellogg Doolittle House will be negatively tainted by the allegations, both in resale value and as a rental property.
“It is a shame because it is such an architecturally significant home,” she says. “Some people may feel morally opposed to staying in such a home and supporting the owner economically because of what [allegedly] went on.”
Denise Supplee, co-founder of SparkRental.com, notes she once unwittingly took on a listing of a house known as a local drug den. She was unable to sell it.
For the Kellogg Doolittle House, she says, “I have seen some homes with less than good reputations sell quickly … and some will just sit.”
But Bruce Ailion, a real estate agent and attorney with Re/Max in Atlanta, believes the house’s architectural significance will easily overcome the scandal.
“That is a very unique home,” he says. “I believe the sexual assault allegations tarnish the assailant—not the home. Perhaps in a less spectacular home, a stigma of the allegation of sexual misconduct taking place would have an impact. But the unique beauty of this home transcends these allegations for enough buyers to have little impact on value. There is a buyer for the scarce, rare, unique object regardless of its history.”
