The Holmby Hills Estate of Late Paramount Chief Brad Grey Comes to Market
The custom-designed estate of late entertainment industry powerhouse Brad Grey, more than two picturesquely landscaped acres in a particularly posh section of L.A’s exceedingly hoity-toity Holmby Hills ‘hood and officially known as The Grey Estate, has come to market with an astonishing, publicity generating $77.5 million price tag. The late chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures and his surviving wife, Cassandra Huysentruyt-Grey, purchased the expensively located spread in late 2010 for $18.5 million and were married on the property the following year in glittering ceremony attended by a slew of Hollywood luminaries. Shortly thereafter, the existing residence, a vintage 1930s hacienda-style affair that was once home to Frank Sinatra, was razed to make way for a substantially larger and far more contemporary, multi-winged mansion inspired by the simple forms of rural architecture and designed for the couple by noted Napa Valley architect Howard Backen. Vertical wood planks downplay and soften simply massed exteriors while voluminous, light-filled interiors that feature rustic-luxe stone floor tiles and gargantuan expanses of steel-trimmed windows were done up a relaxed but refined manner by the design firm Atelier AM.
The gated estate offers about 14,000-square-feet of living space with five bedrooms and eight full and four half bathrooms across two structures. An approximately 13,000-square foot main house has four en suite guest bedrooms located in a secluded wing of their own along with a master suite privately sequestered on the upper floor with his and her bathrooms and an over-the-treetops view of the Century City skyline. An bridge over a shallow ravine links the swimming pool area to a striking two-story recreation pavilion that’s wrapped in rigorously spaced horizontal slats of wood and houses what listing details describe as “twin gyms” along with a cold plunge pool, a steam room and a sauna.
The comfortably plush living room is of ballroom proportions and transforms into a professional-grade screening room at the touch of a button, a separate den offers a wet bar and a glass-lined sunroom is warmed by a stone fireplace. A “Great Room” is composed of an open plan kitchen and, under a vaulted exposed wood ceiling, a combination dining area and family room where a fireplace is set into a wood-paneled wall and a broad bank of floor-to-ceiling glass doors slide open to a courtyard with an outdoor fireplace and four fully mature olive trees with gorgeously gnarled trunks.
Rooms flow easily out to thoughtfully considered and carefully groomed yet inviting grounds designed by British landscape architect Miranda Brooks. Expansive carpets of tree-shaded lawns are bordered with mature plantings, the swimming pool and spa are set into a sunny clearing and a sheltered dining terrace is bordered by a vegetable and herb garden on one side and an organic fruit orchard on the other.
Grey, who once owned a multi-acre estate in Pacific Palisades that was sold in 2010 for $21.5 million to real estate mogul and Democratic Party mover and shaker Jordan Kaplan, previously owned another Holmby Hills mansion, a sumptuously appointed 10,616-square-foot Colonial, that he picked up in 2009 for $22.5 million and, after first popping up on the open market in 2013 at $27.5 million, sold in a 2015 off-market deal for $25 million to hotel, restaurant and nightlife mogul Sam Nazarian.
Like many Tinseltown potentates, Grey maintained a New York City pied-a-terre that has been on and off the market for a couple of years. In 2011 the Greys shelled out $15.5 million for a 3,000-square-foot full-floor apartment on a high floor of the legendary Carlyle building on the Upper East Side. The William Sofield-designed 3-bedroom and 4.5-bathroom pad came up for sale almost two years ago at an in-hindsight too audacious $22.5 million and is currently available with a money losing asking price of $14.995 million.
Listing photos: Westside Estate Agency / Hilton & Hyland
Launch Gallery: Brad Gray’s Holmby Hills Estate Hits the Market at $77.5 million
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