Donation letter, Getty Oil Company, November 1975, Courtesy of City of Los Angeles archives

In 1958 E.D. Buckley, an associate of Getty Oil Company, purchased the Getty House from the Lockharts. The following year the title was transferred to Tidewater Realty, the real estate arm of Getty Oil, overseen by J. Paul Getty, its chief executive officer. J. Paul Getty was acquainted with Windsor Square and nearby neighborhoods. He had attended Harvard Military School in the West Adams district, and his parents, George and Sarah, owned a home on nearby Kingsley and Wilshire Boulevard.

The Getty Oil Company had intended to build their corporate headquarters in the area and purchased property in the blocks connected to and around Getty House. However, a residential zoning ordinance of 1911 prohibited construction. Although Getty Oil sought to appeal or requested exemption from this ordinance, they were denied and retained ownership to the properties on Irving Boulevard for 15 years.

The house had several more renters in the late 1960s.  In 1975, Getty House once became home to Hollywood “royalty” when Lee and Ann Strasberg, the artistic directors of the Actors Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, took up residency. The house was an ideal spot for the Strasbergs’ celebrated gatherings.  Tidewater Realty offered them the house for purchase, which they declined.