The Real House
I was looking for information about the house built for the movie and here's what I found from "The Hidden History of Product Placement"
"Motion picture producers continued to see product placement as a method of reducing production cost and increasing promotion. An example is the house that product placement built for Columbia Pictures's Strangers When We Meet (Quine, 1960), the story of an architect (Kirk Douglas) who has an affair with a married neighbor (Kim Novak). A subplot involved Douglas's construction of a spectacular house in the hills above Los Angeles for a best-selling author, played by Ernie Kovacs. Rather than erect a set for the motion picture, producer/director Richard Quine envisioned building a real house in Bel Air and filming scenes before, during, and after construction. The construction cost would be reduced through product placements that would generate publicity for the building supply companies while tie-in advertising would promote the movie. Throughout 1959 and part of 1960, Columbia publicist Marty Weiser worked to create a cascade of tie-ins among housing manufacturing companies, meeting with representatives of 37 companies, including Weyerhauser, National Oak Flooring, and Mohawk Carpets. According to internal Columbia memos, the companies were promised, explicitly and implicitly, that their goods would be shown both in the movie and in a featurette on the construction of the house, narrated by Ernie Kovacs. In addition, the stars of the movie would pose for advertising shots with the products. Weiser succeeding in obtaining $100,000 worth of product from 14 manufacturers and trade associations, including RCA television sets and phonographs, NuTone intercoms, Simmons mattresses, Anderson Windows, Paddock Pools, and Schlage locks. Although few of the products were identified in the motion picture, nearly all of the manufacturers purchased advertising for their products in magazines such as House Beautiful and Sunset. The featurette was produced and shown at home shows in California (Weiser, 1960)."
From a story about the rehab the house underwent in 2003:
"Carniglia Construction, Inc. (CCI) has completed a restoration of the Bel Air home originally built for the 1960 film "Strangers When We Meet." The house is owned by New York-based businessman Barry Wolf and will be used as his west coast residence.
While maintaining some of the original architectural design, the house was largely rebuilt from the ground up, expanded to nearly 6,000 square feet and modernized to suit the client's needs.
"We approach the business as a builder first," said Carniglia. "We love the craft in every aspect working on a project. The fit and finish of unique design elements, often finessed together to make a client's dreams come true, requires not only extreme determination, but a depth of skill not often found in other firms."
CCI worked carefully within the Hillside Ordinance of the LA Building Code, sinking huge concrete caissons in the hillside and creating grade beams to support the new house, pool and drive areas. The Architectural design was by Leslie Armstrong of New York-based HLW. Exotic and detailed, from the various architectural and engineering elements involved in restoring a house originally built only for filming, to the interior lighting, the display of art and the home networking system, presented many challenges throughout the nearly 20-month project.
"Carniglia's attention to detail and ability to manage the 'relationship' aspect of the project enabled us to create the house we wanted while maintaining the spirit of the original design," said Barry Wolf, the home's current owner."
To see pictures of the house after remodeling go to:
http://www.carniglia.com/
Click on Projects and scroll along strip of photos near the bottom and click on Wolf Residence.