This spring, communications industry billionaire Gary Winnick hefted Casa Encantada, the storied prewar estate in Bel-Air, onto the open market.
The heavyweight and beguiling property — the estate’s title translates to ‘enchanted’ — is presently tagged at $250 million, making it the priciest residence on the American market as of writing. When it last whispered at $225 million four years ago, the compound held the same financial distinction.
The prewar property, which stands as one of the area’s first true trophy estates, was commissioned by a widow and completed in the late 1930s. It was later purchased by hotelier Conrad Hilton for a relative pittance; Hilton hung onto the pile until the late 1970s, before passing it on to Dole Foods’ David Murdock. Winnick paid $94 million for it at the turn of this century.
As it currently stands, the bit of Bel-Air witchcraft has been sensitively restored by its present owner, and retains its original mix of Modern and Georgian architecture. It has 40,000 sq. ft. of interiors to its credit.
Despite the mansion’s large footprint, it is surrounded by its exterior amenities, which include a tennis court, large swimming pool and proportionally correct pool house, courtesy of the eight acres of park-like grounds that border the links of the Bel-Air Country Club.
If it sells at or near its asking price, Casa Encantada could register as the priciest single-family home sale in U.S. history. Regular readers may recall that hedge funder and fearless spender Ken Griffin’s winter 2018-2019 purchase of a multi-floor mansion in the sky in Manhattan’s 220 Central Park South currently stands as the record…at $238 million.
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