In November 1957, shortly before her marriage to Mickey Hargitay, Mansfield bought a 40-room Mediterranean-style mansion formerly owned by Rudy Vallée at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.[1] Much of the investment to buy the house came from the $81,340 ($932,422 in 2025 dollars)[2] she inherited from her maternal grandfather Elmer Palmer.[3][4] Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the "Pink Palace". It was, according to her, a "pink landmark."[5] Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 ($1,719,491 in 2025 dollars)[2] in free merchandise, paying only $76,000 ($871,209 in 2025 dollars)[2] for the mansion itself.[6] It was still a large sum, when the average cost of a house at the time was under $7,500 ($85,975 in 2025 dollars[2]).[7]
The Pink Palace was sold after her death and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr and Engelbert Humperdinck.[8] In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year.
