Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen Drops $41M on L.A. Mansion with an Old Hollywood Pedigree

Published: April 27, 2017 | By: American Luxury Staff

Billionaire investor Nicolas Berggruen—founder of the Berggruen Institute think tank—has purchased an estate in Holmby Hills. Berggruen paid $40.8 million for the property, the one-time home of Edie and William Goetz, prominent figures in the film industry.

Comprising a compound of several residences on over two acres—which was listed last year with an asking price of $79 million—the property had been divided into two separate offerings by the current owner; Berggruen purchased the main house with a guesthouse, and the bulk of the acreage. The remainder of the original property remains for sale at $37 million, and contains two smaller residences.

The main house dates to the 1930’s, and is designed in the Colonial Revival style. It measures a whopping 20,000 square feet, and contains eleven bedrooms.

The interiors of the main house are beautifully and carefully designed, and incorporate both historical gravitas and modern appeal. Most notable—period inlaid hardwood floors.

The library features a spectacular cloud ceiling—part of a later renovation—which gives the home a modernist context. The room also features inset bookshelves with a rail access ladder, modern fireplace, and the herringbone-pattern hardwood floors which run through much of the home. In contrast, the dayroom features harlequin tiling, and marble-accented walls.

The guesthouse is located near the modest-sized pool, amid the very green and nicely landscaped two-acre property.

The Berggruen Institute is a non-politically affiliated think tank concerned with human rights and changing social philosophy in the context of globalization. It was founded in 2010 by Mr. Berggruen. In 2015, the Institute’s Philosophy and Culture Center was launched, for the encouragement of cultural interaction, and the reduction of ideological constraint in human relationships.

Berggruen’s net worth is estimated at $1.8 billion.

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