Footage of Les Paul’s historic home and recording studio, taken before the property was demolished allegedly without warning, has emerged online.
Earlier this month, Gene Paul, son of Les, broke his silence after his father’s home in Mahwah, New Jersey, was quietly bought for $990,000 then leveled by bulldozers.
The property was one of modern music’s most significant birthplaces. At this address, the late guitar inventor and recording pioneer made huge leaps in studio technology, innovating multi-track recording and electric guitar design along the way.
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Its workshop was also visited by greats such as Mary Ford, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eddie Van Halen.
However, the home was unexpectedly razed after it was sold to private developers. The Les Paul Foundation stoked further controversy when Executive Director Michael Braunstein publicly downplayed the loss.
Braunstein’s comments, which labelled the historic estate as “four walls”, were met with scrutiny. Gene was among those to speak out against the destruction of the property, which he says took place without warning.
“I’m not an attorney. I’m a son. And right now, I’m a heartbroken son,” he says. “A few days ago, I saw my father’s home, our family home, gutted. It made me sick. That house was not just where Les Paul lived. It was his workshop. It was his laboratory. It was his journey of dreams.”
Gene says the Paul family were shut out of the process, and received no advance opportunity to visit the property one last time before it was razed. It was reportedly a “scramble at the last minute” to save historic artifacts from the property.
“My father had children and a family,” Gene adds. “Was that ever considered? Nobody talked to us about it. And now that the house is gone, where is the historical marker at the entrance to Deerhaven Road telling future generations that Les Paul lived here?
“I think my father’s family, his friends, his fans and everyone whose life has been touched by his work deserve some answers.”
Footage from the property’s final days has been shared by guitar collector Perry Margouleff. It shows the iconic building in a state of disarray, the rooms in which Les Paul worked on his earliest guitar ideas left in a state of disrepair.
Margouleff visited the home to document it after receiving a tip-off regarding its fate.
“I figured this place would be maintained as a site on the National Register of Historic places,” he narrates. “Surely nobody would be careless enough to let it deteriorate.
“But what we found, and the footage we gathered, was horrifying – a house needlessly in disrepair only a decade or two after its fabled owner had passed. This was a travesty of American popular history and culture.”
Braunstein and the Les Paul Foundation issued two statements in response to the backlash.
“While the loss of Les Paul’s former home is understandably emotional for those who associate the property with an important chapter of Les’ life and work, it is important to distinguish the loss of the structure from the preservation of Les Paul’s artistic and technical legacy,” Braunstein said in the first.
“Claims that Les Paul’s legacy has been “erased,” and that this represents an “unforgivable failure to safeguard” it, or that the physical evidence of his work has been lost are completely inaccurate.
“A significant collection of Les’ original recording equipment… has been preserved, meticulously restored, and is actively in use at the Les Paul Recording Studio.”
In the second, the Foundation added, “While the loss of the Mahwah home is deeply emotional, Les Paul’s legacy was never confined to one building. It lives in his music, inventions, recordings, instruments, archives, and the countless artists and listeners he inspired.
“We remain committed to preserving and sharing that legacy with the care, respect, and reverence it deserves.
“As a final note, one should be very aware that the house was in a residential neighborhood that would not permit the traffic, zoning and/or establishment of a public exhibition. And we hope to hear from Gene at some point as many calls and emails have been sent to him over the past few weeks with no response.”
The Les Paul Recording Studio opened in Hollywood last year, and is home to much of Paul’s revolutionary gear.
