According to Rich Report, an entrepreneur or cryptocurrency whiz purchased the palatial Los Angeles home of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen last year at a price of $45 million, not a technology entrepreneur or crypto wizard as some commenters had speculated.
In reality, he is Randall Van Wolfswinkel, a Dallas-based construction magnate with an eye for ultra-high-end real estate, who is known as being passionate about collecting ultra-high-end properties. There was a time when the Santa Barbara Independent described him as “very much the elusive mystery man” because of his Californian roots.
Previous owners of the estate were also known for their solitary lifestyle and were notorious recluses. After Allen bought the main house, he acquired several neighboring parcels of land and integrated them into an impenetrable and citadel-like fortress composed of several properties that were lying in the vicinity, which he had never married and rarely attended public events.
In today’s reality, the hilltop complex is situated on 3.2 acres of land high in the mountains above Beverly Hills. The compound has a total of three gated and camera-monitored driveways, all of which are surrounded by high fences.
The estate of Allen sold the property in 2021, three years after his death in 2018, for $55 million, the price at which Allen had set it up for sale. A decade and a half passed before Van Wolfswinkel came knocking on the door, negotiating a cool $10 million discount for the company.
In accordance with Rich Report, Rock Hudson, the most famous person to have resided in the property, lived there since 1962 until his death in 1985, and is considered the property’s most famous occupant. During the 1920s, the Spanish-style hacienda was a charming throwback to Old Hollywood days, and it was adorned with sweeping views of the entire city skyline, creating a charming atmosphere.
The house was sold to the director John Landis shortly after Hudson’s death, who spent years tearing down and rebuilding the Hudson residence in order to create a larger, grander interpretation of an authentic Spanish Revival villa after his death.
The estate was purchased by Landis in 1997, who remodeled and significantly enlarged the estate himself as a part of the deal he made with Allen. On the premises now, there are five separate buildings: a main house, a detached guesthouse, a building with a guard room, a building with a cinema theater and a recording studio, and a staff/bodyguard building with a camera monitoring room.
As a whole, the buildings total nearly 25,000 square feet of living space, with a total of 10 bedrooms, 12.5 bathrooms and a total of 16,000 square feet of deck space.
There are a number of highlights to this property, including terraced gardens and bougainvillea-wrapped gardens, a shimmering pool with incredible views, and grassy lawns and broad patios, making it ideal for hosting events of all sizes.
A spacious mansion-size main house stretches over 9,500 square feet and features vaulted ceilings, a chef’s kitchen with commercial appliances, a gym, a massage room, as well as a master retreat upstairs with dual closets and an oversized bath in limestone.
However, perhaps the most notable amenity on the property is the glass funicular which swiftly transports guests from the mansion to the tennis court(which is located at the bottom of the hill), one of the most unique features of the property.
In addition to being 60 and unmarried, Van Wolfswinkel is the founder and owner of one of the country’s most successful homebuilding companies, First Texas Homes. Aside from a 17,000-square-foot compound in Highland Park, referred to as “the Beverly Hills of Dallas,” the elusive mogul owns five impressive residences — two in Texas, three in California. As part of the Ritz-Carlton Tower Residences in Dallas, he has a penthouse condo.
A vacant lot in Trousdale Estates, the prestigious Beverly Hills neighborhood known for its lavish homes, was purchased by Van Wolfswinkel for $34 million in 2020. In the near future, he will begin construction on his dream 90210 mansion, a project that is sure to take several more years to complete. Van Wolfswinkel also owns an oceanfront mansion worth million in Santa Barbara, which Warner Group Architects recently expanded.
As for Allen, he left a $26 billion fortune and a collection of trophy properties that is among the largest in the world. Other tycoons have swooped in to pluck up residential morsels as a result of the sales of his dozens of homes over the past few years.
Julia Koch, a member of the Koch Industries family, bought Allen’s NYC penthouse units last summer for $101 million. Allen’s “Enchanted Hill” vacant lot in Los Angeles had been sold for $65 million months earlier by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Early in 2020, venture capitalist Paul Madera paid $35 million for Allen’s Silicon Valley mansion. Allen’s Hawaiian estate was purchased for a record $43 million by an anonymous tech billionaire in 2021.
