The Hearst Mansion in Beverly Hills is for sale.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
Amalfi Estates Founder Anthony Marguleas is co-listing the Hearst Mansion at 1011 N. Beverly Dr., three blocks north of Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills for $89,750,000.
“The Hearst Estate is anchored in American legend and is a one-of-a-kind home that is truly a spectacular property,” Marguleas said. “The estate has been enjoyed by many celebrities, making it a prized property for collectors of the finest architecture.”
The property, which is considered one of the 10 most iconic homes in Los Angeles (the others are Greystone, Pickfair, Chartwell, Playboy, Owlwood Estate, Harold Lloyd Estate, The Knoll, The Warner Estate and Casa Encantada-Winnick), is being sold by the bankruptcy trustee. It had been on the market for $165 million and the price has been reduced.
Designed by architect Gordon Kaufman, the 36,000-sq.-ft. house (29,000 sq. ft. in the main house and 7,000 sq. ft. in ancillary structures) was built in 1927. Kaufman also designed the Greystone Mansion, Santa Anita Park, and the Los Angeles Times Building.
Set at the end of one of the city’s longest private driveways, the main house has eight bedrooms and 15 bathrooms (including powder rooms). A formal living room is set under a soaring 22-foot arched hand-painted ceiling. There’s a two-story, wood-paneled library and an art-deco nightclub, plus two projection/screening rooms and a billiards room with herringbone parquet floors and a fireplace reminiscent of Hearst Castle.
The wood-paneled library is exquisite.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
These grand public rooms and indoor/outdoor entertaining areas can comfortably accommodate up to 1,000 guests. Complimenting the main house, the ancillary improvements include two staff/guest apartments, a pool house, a tennis pavilion and a two-story, five-bedroom gate house.
The home is set on 3.5 acres of private grounds with sun-soaked terraces, manicured lawns, waterfalls and an Olympic sized pool.
Publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst and actress Marion Davies began their affair in 1921, when he was 58 and she 21. They lived openly together, which was scandalous in that era. Visitors to their various mansions included Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Harpo Marx, Clark Gable, Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart.
Hearst hired architect Julia Morgan and built a mansion for Davies in Santa Monica in 1929, which is now the site of the Annenberg Beach House.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
During the late 1930s, when hard times hit Hearst Corporation, Davies gave Hearst a check for one million dollars to save the company from collapse. She brought the Beverly Drive property in 1946 for Hearst.
There is another Palisades connection with the couple — the “Thomas Ince Scandal.” According to Wikipedia, although movie studio owner Ince’s death at age 44 was listed as heart failure, it was rumored he was shot by Hearst, who had mistaken him for Charlie Chaplin, who supposedly had a sexual liaison with Davies.
Davies and Hearst stayed together until his death in 1951. Eleven weeks after his death, she married sea captain Horace Brown and their marriage lasted until her death in 1961, when she was 64. She left an estate estimated at $20 million.
In 1953, Hearst’s Beverly House was one of the destinations for JFK and Jackie Kennedy’s honeymoon, and later, it even served as Kennedy’s West Coast presidential election headquarters.
The house was owned by financier and attorney Leonard Ross for more than 40 years, until he declared bankruptcy in 2010.
Said Marguleas, whose real estate office is located on Monument, “Only two to three homes in this price range sell in a year.” He noted that the most expensive homes in Pacific Palisades top out at about $30 million, so “this is the largest listing the firm has had.”
The rooms in the mansion, such as the formal dining room are filled with light and use a variety of materials.
Photo: Jim Bartsch
Photo: Jim Bartsch
How about using the 3.5 acres for Bonehead Bonin’s homeless encampments? The main house could provide shelter for a few hundred more.