Hollywood welcomes bungalow Beckham

As desirable addresses in America go, zip code 90210 in Beverly Hills is right up there with the priciest and most exclusive. Tom Cruise and Katie Homes live there, and at its heart is the sinuous trail of San Ysidro Drive, home, once, to Fred Astaire (No 1155), Michael Douglas (1160), Raquel Welch (1152), Peter Finch (1148), Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (1107), Rex Harrison (1106), Danny Kaye (1103)... and, now, the family cum brand of David, Victoria, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz Beckham (1105). Well, there goes the neighbourhood.

Their house has no old Hollywood connections – Errol Flynn didn't "date" bobbysoxers in its shrubbery – for the simple reason that it's brand, spanking new. The work of fashionable designer Tim Morrison, it's a one-storey villa that looks low slung but does in fact command views of both the city and, with a little imagination, the ocean.

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Designed in the shape of a letter H, it covers 13,149 square feet on a 1.25-acre site, and has three more bathrooms (nine) than it has bedrooms (six). The publicity described the style as Italian, although you could search from Sicily to the Dolomites and not find a house that looks anything like this. Whatever, it cost $22m (£10.8m). For a couple whose wedding reception famously featured "his'*'hers" golden thrones, the place is almost modest. But the local rubber neckers are already drooling. The blog of "LA Real Estate Expert" could barely contain itself, describing what is, after all, a bungalow as a "Twenties-inspired Italian villa" that has "refined elegance and sophistication".

Other house fanciers aren't so bowled over. The Real Estalker (the home, it boasts, of "hardcore real estate porn"), says: "The immigrants' Bev Hills house... has a teeny little pool. Maybe the couple and their kiddies don't like the water much?"

It is through the gates of 1105 that, this week, David Beckham will swing his car and begin the commute to his first LA Galaxy training session. Then, on Saturday, he will pull on the team's white shirt and face Chelsea in his debut game. The expectation will be enormous. But if he makes a success of this extravagant career move, he could, with a contract potentially worth $250m (£122m) over five years, even afford to upgrade the bungalow into a house.