When 26-year-old Barbara Harris met Cary Grant in the 1970s, the legendary actor was already in the middle of renovating his longtime home in Beverly Hills, Calif. Even after the couple married in 1981, she took a back seat when it came to the project.

“The design was already in process,” said Barbara, now 74. The couple shared the home until “The Philadelphia Story” actor died in 1986, when she inherited it.

Decades later, Barbara finally made her mark on the estate. With her current husband, real-estate investor David Jaynes, she tore down the circa-1940s house and built a contemporary, roughly 15,700-square-foot house. Now looking to downsize, the couple is listing the property for $77.5 million.

To maximize the views, the Jayneses opted for high ceilings and steel-framed, floor-to-ceiling windows.

Finishes include white oak.

There is a terrace off the breakfast room.

There are 12 bathrooms, including two in the primary suite.

With views from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean, the six-bedroom estate sits on roughly 2.9 acres with a tennis court and pool.

Grant paid about $46,000 for the property in 1946, said Barbara, now Barbara Jaynes. Born in England, Grant starred in romantic comedies like 1940’s “His Girl Friday” and several Alfred Hitchcock films. Barbara was working in public relations in London when the pair met.

While the Beverly Hills house was under construction, Barbara threw a surprise party there for Grant, she recalled. The guests, including Frank Sinatra and Gregory Peck, had to crawl through a window to get in the house. “We were really happy here,” she said of the home.

Barbara and Cary Grant are pictured in 1981.

Barbara married David in 2001. Almost immediately, the couple began thinking about designing a new house, but they didn’t start the project until 2014. With low ceilings and obstructed views, “the property was so outdated,” Barbara said. “Cary, even when he finished, he said, ‘I should have knocked the whole thing down.’”To maximize the views, the Jayneses opted for tall ceilings and steel-framed floor-to-ceiling windows. Devotees of the Aman brand, they tried to emulate the simplicity, privacy and quality of the resort properties with elegant and clean lines. For finishes, they chose rift-sawn white oak, cream-colored stone and soft neutral fabrics. “We didn’t want anything to clash with the beauty of the view,” Barbara said.

The house has a theater on the lower level. A first-floor wine room has stainless steel walls, white-oak cabinetry and custom glass shelves with grooves to hold bottles in place.

Outside, expansive terraces wrap around the house on the first and second levels, David said. With the exception of a few massive, stone pine trees that had been there for decades, the couple replaced virtually all of the landscaping on the property. They planted more than 100 trees and 500 shrubs. The garden has white and cream-colored roses. “It’s very serene and peaceful down there,” Barbara said.

Devotees of the Aman brand, the Jayneses tried to emulate the look of the resort properties with simple, clean lines.

There are six bedrooms.

The house was designed around views of L.A. and the ocean.

The Jayneses declined to say how much they spent on the project, which they completed around 2022 with an eye toward eventually selling it. With her 75th birthday approaching, Barbara said, relocating makes sense. “It doesn’t mean I won’t miss the house, but I’m happy to move to a smaller place,” she said.

Although the Los Angeles market has had ups and downs, the area saw three deals above $50 million in the first half of the year and one for more than $90 million, said Aaron Kirman of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, one of the listing agents. “I think people recognize that they’re getting pretty good deals in markets that are challenging,” he said.