The most expensive home in Los Angeles, the $195 million Casa Encantada, still on the market

“If it hadn't gone inside me, I wouldn't have believed there was such a residence in the world,” MGM chief Louis B. Mayer once said of Casa Encantada, considered by many to be the finest residence in the United States. Currently on the market for an eye-popping $195 million, the historic estate, overlooking the Bel-Air Country Club on a stunning 8.4 acres, features a 7-bed, 20-bath main house described by its Russian-born architect James Dolena as a “Modern Gergiano with Greek influences.” The longtime home of hotelier Conrad Hilton, it has been called “The Home Where Dreams Come True.”

But since 2019, Casa Encantada has been listed several times only to be taken off the market, with the price reduced from $250 million to $195 million. Now a trio of super-agents: Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency, Drew Fenton of Carolwood Estates and Million dollar listings Josh Flagg of Compass – dream of the large commission they will receive if they finally manage to sell the mega-property, even if the luxury market collapses.

“Casa Encantada is one of the most iconic homes in Los Angeles for its architectural significance, designed by James Dolena in 1937, and for its Georgian-style elegance,” says Flagg. “The villa has hosted high-profile events and has been owned by important people such as Conrad Hilton, enhancing its cultural and social legacy. Its vast size, opulence and prime location in Bel-Air, combined with its historic significance, make it one of the most sought-after and expensive estates in the city.

For Flagg, Casa Encantada – or enchanted house – couldn't have a more appropriate name. “It's always a pleasure to show Casa Encantada because every time you see something new that you've never noticed before,” Flagg says. “My favorite feature of the house is the automotive field. When you enter the gates of the estate you travel down a long winding driveway to a parking lot with an exquisite fountain highlighted by magnificent bronze sculptures.

Simone Berlin

The estate, at 10644 Bellagio Road, has previously broken the record for the most expensive home sold in the United States. It was built for Hilda Boldt Weber, a former nurse turned fabulously wealthy widow of a glass bottle magnate, who had scandalized society by marrying his butler. Polite, dowdy, but fatally extravagant, Weber was desperate to enter Los Angeles high society when he purchased the lot in 1936. He hired Dolena, landscape designer Benjamin Purdy, and T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings to build his neoclassical Art Deco dream for more than $ 2 million, or about $45 million in today's money.

No expense was spared. Weber insisted on a tunnel leading directly to the Bel-Air Country Club golf course. He even equipped the servants' bedrooms with luxurious furnishings, including marble floors. “A new employee spent his first night awake, fearing that he had accidentally been placed in the guest room,” writes Michael Gross in Unreal Estate: Money, Ambition and Lust for Land in Los Angeles.

Weber's debauchery would have bled her dry. It was so expensive to maintain that he put it on the market for $1.5 million in 1948. With no buyers, desperate for cash and shunned by Bel-Air snobs, he sold it in 1950 to hotelier Conrad Hilton for just $225,000 ($3 million in 2024 dollars). Broken and disenchanted, Weber committed suicide shortly after the sale.

“It was love at first sight,” Hilton noted of the house, which he called “Casa Encantada.” He lived in his castle on the hill until his death in 1978. In 1980, Dole Foods billionaire David Murdock purchased the house from the Hilton family and renamed it the “Bellagio House.” He sold it to businessman and philanthropist Gary Winnick for a record $94 million in 2000.

The Winnicks invested tens of millions in the property's restoration, overseen by legendary architect and Warhol collaborator Peter Marino. In 2019, the Winnicks put Casa Encantada on the market for $225 million, with Hilton & Hyland representing the sellers. But no buyer was found. After Gary Winnick's death in 2023, his widow, Karen, reportedly relisted the house for $250 million, but again, no firm offer came through.

Simone Berlin

There could be several reasons why the property has not sold in the past. The costs of annual property taxes, maintenance and staffing to operate a historic estate of this size are commensurate with the stratospheric asking price. Additionally, the confusion that the COVID era has caused in the real estate market and the competition with newer, less demanding homes at the higher end of the housing stock have made Casa Encantada more difficult to sell than it once had been.

But Flagg believes the time has finally come to sell the property. “The market has been in a very strange situation over the last couple of years,” he says. “If this were 2017 or even during the height of COVID, the house would be sold by now. Someone will get an incredible deal as it is now appropriately priced at $195 million.

Numerous qualified buyers visited the property. “The interest has been tremendous,” Flagg says. “I think people see the value and opportunity in acquiring such an iconic estate.”

Whether these high rollers have just gotten a glimpse of an important part of American architectural history, or actually intend to shell out more than $195 million — plus countless millions in expenses — is yet to be seen. Despite everything, Casa Encantada remains the stuff dreams are made of. But dreams can be elusive and, sometimes, a little too expensive.

Casa Encantada's 8.4-acre lot borders the Bel-Air Country Club golf course.

Simone Berlin

The property contains a spacious cellar and a humidifier.

Simone Berlin

A menagerie of topiary art overlooks the property's tennis court.

Simone Berlin

One of the numerous lounges of Casa Encantada.

Simone Berlin

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