Frank Thomas, member of the animating team Walt Disney fondly titled “The Nine Old Men,” is well remembered for the characters he brought to life on screen — from Bambi and Pinocchio to Lady and the Tramp and Captain Hook.
In the 1940s, he and longtime friend and fellow Disney animator Ollie Johnston were looking to purchase land to build their family homes and settled on splitting a 3-acre plot off Flintridge Avenue.
For their half of the acreage, Thomas and wife Jeannette enlisted noted architect Ted Criley Jr. to design a dream house that accommodated their love of the outdoors, desire for openness and antipathy for housekeeping.
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