‘Grand Theft Auto’ Mastermind Dan Houser Skids Into $16.5 Million L.A. Estate
An elegant mansion in a particularly celebrity-favored pocket of L.A.’s Brentwood neighborhood has sold for $16.5 million in an all-cash deal. Right next door to Petra Ecclestone’s home and directly across the street from the main residence of LeBron James, the sublimely located property’s new owners are one of the wealthiest couples in the global entertainment industry: English video game mogul Dan Houser and his longtime wife, Russian voice actress Krystyna Jakubiak.
Through Rockstar Games, the video game juggernaut he co-founded with older brother Sam in 1998, Houser is responsible for the astonishingly successful “Grand Theft Auto,” the deliciously raunchy franchise that has raked in over $6 billion worldwide and become the highest grossing media title of all time. By comparison, “Avengers: Endgame,” the highest grossing film of all time, brought in a comparatively paltry $2.8 billion.
Houser’s house also has a celebrity history of its own, as it turns out. From 2008 until 2012, the house was home to television stalwart Conan O’Brien, who sold the place to financier Peter Richards after moving to his new $20 million Pacific Palisades compound; it was Richards who later flipped the estate to Houser.
Invisible behind tall gates and taller hedges, the .87-acre estate offers an attached garage and formal motorcourt out front, plus a park-like backyard with tree-shaded lawns, lavish covered cabana with full outdoor kitchen and fireplace, covered loggia with plenty of space for alfresco entertaining, and a semi-hidden plunge pool with waterfall feature.
If you’re a fan of clean lines and neutral decor, prepare for your whistle to be whet by the Houser home’s interiors, which were recently redone with superior quality by M. Elle Design and Bay Area-based architect Ken Linsteadt. The result is beautifully chic spaces with abundant natural light and earthy color tones that provide both a cheerful and calming atmosphere.
With its massive center island and luxe appliances, the eat-in kitchen opens to the family room, where French doors allow direct access to the gardens. A giant library stuns with wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, while the double-height living room offers a train car-sized fireplace.
Other lavish spaces include a home gym, sauna, private office, media room, and a master suite with a private balcony overlooking the surrounding treetops. Listing details do not specify the home’s square footage, but it’s big — there are 7 bedrooms and 8.5 baths, per records.
After officially stepping down from Rockstar Games earlier this year, it would seem that Houser, 46, is looking to relocate to the West Coast, or at least live a bicoastal lifestyle. Though this appears to be his first L.A.-area home, he’s certainly not new to the New York high-end market — way back in 2012, he shattered the Brooklyn sales record by paying $12.5 million for the famous Truman Capote mansion (where the author is believed to have written “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”)
A year after acquiring the Capote place, Houser and Jakubiak sold their $9.6 million Soho pad to prominent real estate developer Justin Ehrlich. The following spring, Ehrlich flipped that NYC apartment for a whopping $14.5 million to its current owners — twin tech tycoons Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
Santiago Arana of The Agency and Jonathan Carr of Compass held the listing; Juliette Hohnen of Douglas Elliman repped Houser.
Launch Gallery: Inside Dan Houser's New Brentwood Mansion
More from Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
