Richard Nixon’s SoCal Western White House Lists for $63.5 Million
The spectacular oceanfront estate in San Clemente, Calif., that was known as the Western White House during President Richard Nixon’s administration is back on the market for $63.5 million.
Perched on an isolated bluff overlooking the crashing Pacific with 450 linear feet of beachfront, the estate covers 5.45 acres and includes a 9,000-square-foot main house with nine bedrooms and 14 bathrooms.
Nixon purchased the home six months into his presidency in 1969 for $1.4 million. During his five turbulent years in office, La Casa Pacifica, as it’s known, hosted no fewer than 17 heads of state, including Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Japanese premier Eisaku Satō, along with countless celebrities from John Wayne to Frank Sinatra.
When Nixon resigned in 1974, it was to La Casa Pacifica that he retreated, penning his memoirs in an office overlooking the ocean. (Nixon wasn’t the only president who favored an oceanfront address; Ronald Reagan owned a property in the Pacific Palisades.) In 1980, Nixon sold the home to his longtime political ally Gavin S. Herbert, founder of the Allergan pharmaceuticals giant.
Interestingly, the infamous 1977 Frost/Nixon interviews had originally been scheduled to take place in La Casa Pacifica, but radio signals from nearby Coast Guard navigational transmitters interfered with the production crew’s TV equipment. They were relocated to the home of a Nixon supporter close by. The residence did, however, feature in director Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon movie.
Built in 1927 in the Spanish Mission Revival style for oil tycoon Hamilton H. Cotton, the estate also has a 3,000-square-foot entertaining pavilion with a guest wing, a detached two-bedroom guest house, and multiple staff buildings where the Secret Service used to camp out. Other features of this high-walled compound include an oceanfront swimming pool, a lighted tennis court, a putting green, a greenhouse, and formal gardens.
La Casa Pacifica was first listed in April 2015 with an asking price of $75 million and was subsequently lowered to $69 million the following year. After being withdrawn from the market, it is now being offered for $63.5 million.
Rob Giem of Compass Real Estate holds the listing for this iconic property.
Launch Gallery: In Pictures: Richard Nixon's Western White House
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