Jeff Bezos Buys David Geffen’s Historic Beverly Hills Mansion for a Record $165 Million

Jeff Bezos went on a bit of a real estate shopping spree recently, purchasing the famed Jack Warner Estate from media mogul David Geffen for a record-setting $165 million. (The previous record for the priciest L.A. home sale was the roughly $150 million that Lachlan Murdoch paid for Chartwell, the Bel Air estate used on The Beverly Hillbillies, last year.) Prior to Geffen’s purchase of the estate for $47.5 million in 1990, Ann Warner, Jack Warner’s widow, had resolutely declined a $25 million offer on the property, saying that she would live there until she died.

The property comprises a 13,600-square-foot Georgian-style main mansion, two guesthouses, a nursery and three hothouses, a tennis court, a swimming pool, expansive terraces, and even its own nine-hole golf course. The motor court has its own service garage and gas pumps. (At the time of its construction, starting back in the late 1920s, Warner spent an entire decade creating the estate piece by piece, finally completing it in 1937. To build his sprawling residence, he purchased three nearby mansions and demolished them in order to make way for his vision.)

Inside the main house, one of the most notable features is the original wood flooring, which was imported from overseas, and is reportedly the very same floor that Napoleon was standing on when he proposed to Empress Joséphine, according to the Los Angeles Times. Other features that have stood the test of time include 18th-century English paneling in the living room and a George III–style cut-glass chandelier, early-19th-century French wallpaper in the dining room, and a sunroom featuring Gothic-style wood paneling. A screening room with floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves also features some secret tricks and levers—including projectors hidden behind a panel that is opened by moving a Buddha statue’s head, alongside a screen that can be raised with the help of a water pump. A Mexican-style bar adjacent to the screening room has a circa-1820 Mexican chandelier.

In addition to the Warner Estate, Bezos recently purchased a $90 million plot of undeveloped Los Angeles land, which he is considering “an investment,” a source told the Wall Street Journal. The seller of that plot was the late Paul Allen. And last summer, the Amazon chief made headlines when he purchased not one but three Manhattan apartments overlooking Madison Square Park for some $80 million.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest