California home where Francis Ford Coppola wrote ‘The Godfather’ asks $6.75M

A Bay Area home seller is looking for an offer he can’t refuse.

A three-residence estate in Mill Valley, a city about 13 miles north of San Francisco, that was the longtime home of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has hit the market for $6.75 million. 

Coppola bought the home in 1970, according to a 1981 article in the Mill Valley Record. He sold it in 1984, property records show. 

It was from the property’s cottage, also known as the Nest, that Coppola wrote the screenplay for “The Godfather,” based on Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel, according to the seller, Joel Rosenberg. 

That’s not the end of home’s Hollywood legacy. 

The carriage house above the garage was where “Star Wars” director George Lucas and his then-wife, Marcia, worked during the 1970s, Rosenberg said. 

“George and Marcia Lucas did not own this property, but they did extensive film work here,” Rosenberg said.

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“George worked on and completed ‘THX 1138,’ his breakthrough film here with assistance from Marcia and [Academy award-winning editor and director] Walter Murch.”

It’s also where Lucas edited his 1973 hit “American Graffiti.” 

The legendary filmmakers are close friends, who in 1969 founded the film production company American Zoetrope.

Their studio produced the “The Godfather,” “THX 1138” and “American Graffiti,” along with the other installments of the Godfather franchise, “Apocalypse Now,” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” 

The property’s main residence spans more than 3,100 square feet and blends historic character with refined modern living, according to the listing with Carey Condy of Compass, who brought the home to the market last week. 

It’s fitted with walls of windows, redwood millwork and wood-burning fireplace alongside a great room, a chef’s kitchen, and a primary suite with a cathedral ceiling, a custom dressing room and a balcony with views of the surrounding redwoods. 

Outside, the grounds have fruit trees, vegetable garden beds, a bluestone terrace and a birch tree believed to be among the largest in Marin County, according to the listing. 

“It has been an inspirational place to live,” said Rosenberg, who continued the home’s creative legacy by hosting the Mill Valley Film Festival and inviting visiting directors and actors to stay on the property in the cottage and carriage house. 

“It does inspire creativity, be it in the garden which is constantly evolving, in the chef’s kitchen where local and European chefs have come to cook and teach or sitting outside and making watercolor paintings,” Rosenberg said. “It has great bones, great history, traditions and memories.”

Coppola owns a legacy vineyard not far off, in Northern California’s Napa Valley. Coppola and his late wife, Eleanor, purchased Inglenook winery in Rutherford in 1975 and have spent 50 years restoring the property.