Hearst's former mansion goes on sale for $165m

[Story]

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2123162,00.html

A 29-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion that can boast the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst as a former owner is believed to have become the most expensive property listed on the American market, with an asking price of $165m (£82.5m).

The Beverly House Compound, close to Sunset Boulevard, was for four years until his death in 1951 the home of Hearst and his long-time mistress, the film actress Marion Davies.

He decorated the property with statues brought north from his famous Hearst Castle in San Simeon and with lifesize paintings of Davies.


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Beverly House Compound was built in 1927 for the banker, Milton Getz, who sold it to Hearst 20 years later for $120,000. Its architect was Gordon Kaufmann, who designed the Hoover Dam and the headquarters of the Los Angeles Times.

 

[HadleyH]

Is this the house located off Benedict Canyon, on Beverly Drive?

If it is, a little more info;

The "Beverly house" as Marion called it, was built of pink stucco with a tiled roof atop it's three stories and designed in a U shape around its cobbled courtyard. That's where W R Hearst spend his last days, as noted in the link.

(good thing nobody is tearing it down....yet )

Thanks for posting Story.

 

[MK]

.

I have been in the joint. It is a little smaller than the Grand Canyon, and has less rooms than the Empire State Building.

There is a secret bookshelve....more like a wall really. It moves up into the ceiling to reveal a good size bar. Due to prohibition, no doubt.