Billionaire Heiress Sophie Schmidt Gobbles Up Neighboring House in Beverly Hills for $29.2M

Published: May 10, 2022 | By: American Luxury Staff

Between 2020 and 2022, billionaire Eric Schmidt purchased a number of residential properties in Southern California, including an estate in Montecito — $31 million — and ‘Enchanted Hill’, the 120-acre hilltop parcel in Beverly Hills which, back in the day, served as a setting for the Wallace Neff-designed house of western film actor Fred Thompson and screenwriter Frances Marion, but which in the present day went to Schmidt for $65 million courtesy of Paul Allen’s estate.

Schmidt also purchased heavily in Bel-Air, snapping up hotel heavyweight Barron Hilton’s estate for $62 million and an adjacent property for an additional $5.2 million. This spring, his daughter Sophie, the founder and CEO of journalistic nonprofit Rest of World, took a cue from his freewheeling property buying. According to Dirt, she spent $29.15 million for the house across the street from her own digs in Beverly Hills Post Office.

The lavish and architecturally daring 2021 build is hidden behind a covered gated entrance; from the street, the extravagant flourish suggests the circular, and opens to a plateau motor court, and within it is a staircase that traverses water before leading to the shared living spaces.

The home contains five bedrooms and seven baths across its 10,278 sq. ft. of interiors. Material flash is of the blinding variety; Macassar ebony is on display throughout the home, with large slabs in use as staircase treads and panels used decoratively in the master and elsewhere. 14-foot ceilings, pushbutton retractable glass walls, and a long list of amenities that includes a game room and bar—Macassar again—as well as a screening room, a gym, and an infinity pool melting into the L.A. skyline also grace this showstopper.

7384 May 10, 2022 Real Estate May 10, 2022