Los Angeles mansion sells for about $150M, sets state record

A Los Angeles mansion built in the 1930s and seen in the credits for the TV show “The Beverly Hillbillies” has been sold for about $150 million, the highest home price ever in California.

The American media company Variety reports that Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan Murdoch bought Bel Air Estate in California at a price of $150 million. [Screen shot: China Plus]

The buyer of the Chartwell estate is Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and co-chairman of publishing company News Corp., the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

Once the residence of late media mogul A. Jerrold Perenchio, the estate centers on a French neoclassical-style chateau of 25,000 square feet (2,323 square meters) that sits on 10 acres (4 hectares) in the Bel Air neighborhood. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, once lived in a home on the property that sits behind the main estate.

Fans of “The Beverly Hillbillies” will recognize Chartwell as the home of the Clampett family from the credits of the popular sitcom that aired from 1962 to 1971. The home was not used in the actual filming of the series.

Designed by architect Sumner Spaulding, the limestone mansion includes a ballroom and a vaulted foyer, according to the newspaper. The custom wine vault can hold 12,000 bottles. There are 18 bedrooms and 24 bathrooms.

The estate carries an annual tax bill of $1.3 million, one of the highest in the Los Angeles area.

The sale of Chartwell is just the latest for a high-end market that has seen a surge of huge deals in recent years, the Times said.

Since 2016, Los Angeles has had six sales of at least $100 million or more. Of California’s seven sales of $100 million or more, only one sits outside of LA County: the $117 million deal for a massive compound in Northern California’s Woodside community in 2013.