Peter Thiel quietly bought Los Angeles’ 40,000-sq-ft Casa Encantada for $130 million at foreclosure after it had once been listed for $250 million; his identity as the buyer stayed hidden for months
Casa Encantada, a 40,000-square-foot Bel-Air mega mansion, known as Los Angeles’ most iconic estate, has found a new owner in billionaire investor Peter Thiel. According to a report by LA Times, the venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder quietly bought the property through a limited liability company at a foreclosure auction in Pomona in July this year.The 58-year-old has become the new owner of the Old Hollywood-style mansion by shelling out $130 million, making it one of the priciest home sales ever in LA.However, even this price is a bow down from the initial rates the abode was listed at. The former owner of the 1938 mansion, late businessman Gary Winnick, asked $225 million for the property in 2019 and $250 million in 2023. But he never found a buyer and died in 2023, leaving a trail of debt in his wake. Records show the Bel-Air estate was used as collateral to pay off a loan from the CIM Group, and Winnick’s family relisted the home for $170 million in April before it was auctioned off to the highest bidder three months later.
A lavish abode
The house itself is full of glitz and glamour with 8.4 acres of land along with sprawling gardens and terraced lawns overlooking the Bel-Air Country Club. It was built in 1938 by James Dolena, a Russian-born architect who erected a handful of trophy properties across Los Angeles. He constructed the home in the shape of the letter “H,” allowing nearly every room a view of the residence’s picturesque surrounds.Ionic columns mark the entry, leading to a foyer with sweeping staircases under 14-foot ceilings. The home boasts a number of resort-like amenities, including a pool, pool house, and tennis court. In addition to seven bedrooms and 20 bathrooms, the stately interiors include multiple dining rooms, lounges and a walnut-panelled library. Outside, fountains and gardens surround a tennis court and 60-foot tiled pool.
A famous history
It was first conceived as the dwelling of widow Hilda Boldt Weber, who was married to successful glass manufacturer Charles Boldt. According to Jeffrey Hyland’s 2008 book, The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills, Weber was regarded as an outsider by the old money elite social groups of the area due to her nouveau riche status. She had inherited a sum equivalent to $150 million in 1929 following her husband’s death, a quarter of which she devoted to building the statement-making palatial residence so as to declare herself a rightful member of the LA high society from which she felt excluded.Hotel magnate Conrad Hilton bought the property in 1950. After his death, it was sold to financier David Murdock in 1980 for $12.4 million, setting a national price record at the time. It claimed another price record when it was sold to Winnick in 2000 for $94 million.Over the years, Winnick invested tens of millions of dollars into the property, even hiring interior designer Peter Marino for a renovation that included tracking down the home’s original furniture and sculpting mouldings using historically accurate techniques. The work required roughly 250 workers per day, according to Architectural Digest. “I came to appreciate the craftsmanship and workmanship in the house,” Winnick told the WSJ. “This isn’t the kind of house where you can just call up a regular decorator and say, ‘Come decorate my house.’ It is a totally different mindset.”For Thiel, the house is another starry addition to his continent-spanning collection of real estate. He already owns compounds in Hawaii and New Zealand, homes in Miami and Washington, D.C. and a newly acquired mansion in Buenos Aires.
