Rupert Murdoch’s Son Lachlan Breaks Records With the Purchase of a $150 Million Property
Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, is making waves and setting records in the real-estate world. He just shelled out a whopping $150 million for a sprawling Bel Air estate, and the sale marks the most expensive California home ever sold. It is also worth nothing that the sale is the nearly the most expensive in all of the United States, second only to hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin's $238 million NYC penthouse.
Lachlan's purchase includes the four-parcel main Chartwell compound as well as the neighboring 1.3-acre vacant lot, which previously belonged to Ronald Reagan. The main compound is anchored by a château-style mansion that spans more than 25,000 square feet and includes 11 bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Built in the 1930s, the home was originally constructed by a wealthy real-estate developer as a gift for his wife. The wife, however, reportedly “hated” the home’s over-the-top extravagance, and so the couple never actually lived there; it wasn’t until hotelier Arnold Kirkeby bought the estate in the 1940s that there were actual residents in the home. Images of the exteriors reveal long stretches of extremely manicured lawns, hedges, and shrubbery protecting the home from nosy neighbors, and several well-tended gardens.
Other structures on the property include a 5,700-square-foot guesthouse designed by Southern California architect Wallace Neff, a brightly lit tennis court, a subterranean garage that can easily hold dozens of cars, and, perhaps most impressive, a 75-foot-long resort-style swimming pool and poolhouse accessible from the main house via an underground tunnel and elevator. The exterior of the home may look familiar to fans of the 1960s show The Beverly Hillbillies, as it was used frequently on the series.
When the Kirkeby family eventually sold the estate to billionaire media tycoon Jerry Perenchio in 1986, he spent millions remodeling and expanding the property to its current state of opulence. Perenchio passed away in 2017, and the estate—along with the vacant lot next door—were put on the market for a sky-high $350 million that summer. The asking price was eventually lowered to $195 million.
Along with their recent Bel Air acquisition, Lachlan and his wife, model and actress Sarah O’Hare, also own a $12.5 million home in Brentwood’s pricey Mandeville Canyon neighborhood. Ahead of the sale of Chartwell, AD was able to tour the property—check out the video below to see inside.
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
