‘Homeless billionaire’ buys Edith Goetz’s glamorous 1930s mansion in Holmby Hills

The site of star-studded soirees during the golden age of Old Hollywood

By Jenna Chandler@jennakchandler Updated Apr 26, 2017, 9:58am PDT

A glamorous Holmby Hills mansion formerly home to Hollywood socialite Edith Meyer Goetz has sold for more than $40 million, The Real Deal Reports. The lucky new owner? Investor Nicolas Berggruen, once nicknamed the “homeless billionaire,” because, before settling down permanently in Los Angeles, he chose to live in luxury hotels.

Listing agent Jeff Hyland told The Real Deal he’s delighted that “someone who shared Goetz’s love of art and architecture and would carry on the social tradition of the house.” Berggruen is a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; his father was a wealthy art collector.

Goetz was the daughter of of MGM founder Louis B. Mayer. The movie mogul bought the estate for her, and she, along with her husband William Goetz, hosted lavish, star-studded parties on the property. In 1966, it was the venue for Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow’s wedding reception.

According to Forbes, director Billy Wilder once said the Goetzes “had the best food, the best people, and the best things on the walls.” Their art collection included works by Picasso, Degas, and Mogliani.

The Georgian Revival-style mansion was built in 1938 and designed by Gordon B. Kaufmann, the architect behind the Greystone Mansion. In addition to 11 bedrooms, it includes an Art Deco library and bar designed by Billy Haines in the 1940s, three guest houses, two swimming pools, and a tennis court.

Goetz died in 1988. Two years later, former Northwest Airlines chairman and ex-Disney CFO Gary L. Wilson acquired the property for $7.4 million. (The art collection was auctioned off at Christie’s for $85 million). Wilson put the property up for sale in October for the first time in 25 years—with an asking price of $79 million.

Berggruen, its new owner, founded investment firm Berggruen Holdings and co-founded hedge fund Alpha Investment Management. He has acquired 450 acres of land near the Getty Center, where he plans to build a “‘secular monastery’ for scholars to live, work and host meetings on topics ranging from philosophy to rethinking government,” according to Bloomberg.