In L.A.’s jam-packed real estate market, an acre is huge. Five acres is a dream. But 100-plus acres is historic.
The Robert Taylor Ranch, a massive equestrian estate sprawled in the hills of Brentwood, is hitting the market for $70 million.
At 112 acres, it’s the largest residential estate to hit the market in the city of L.A. since at least the 1980s, when the Multiple Listing Service started tracking home sales. For reference, the property single-handedly makes up more than 1% of Brentwood, which spans just over 15 square miles.
There are a handful of larger residential properties around L.A. — including the Mountain, a prized 157-acre undeveloped parcel in Beverly Crest that once listed for $1 billion — but none with homes on them that have officially hit the market.
The ranch has roughly 20,000 square feet of living space spread across four structures. There’s a 12,000-square-foot main house with seven bedrooms, a dog spa, art studio and massage room, as well as a guesthouse, barn and workshop.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime estate,” said Rochelle Maize of Nourmand & Associates, who’s handling the listing.
Designed in 1950 by architect Robert Byrd, the ranch was built for oil baron Waite Phillips and later owned by actors Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, who hosted parties at the residence. In its Old Hollywood heyday, it once featured a secret casino accessed by hidden doors; the casino has since been removed, but the hidden door and hallway, found through a rotating bookcase, remain.
In the ’70s, the property was bought and remodeled by Ken Roberts, the concert promoter who turned KROQ-FM into a rock radio giant. Roberts tried selling the ranch a handful of times over the next few decades, asking $45 million for it in 1990, but it was eventually seized by a hedge fund in 2010 after Roberts was unable to repay a $27.5-million loan from New Stream Capital.
The property was auctioned off two years later to Chicago real estate developer Fred Latsko for $12 million and most recently traded hands for $18.7 million in 2015.
Titanic estates have dotted L.A. over the last century, but most have been whittled down by developers subdividing the lots and selling them as separate properties. With so many owners over the years, Maize said it’s a surprise that it hasn’t been chopped into pieces.
“When it last listed, there were two other offers from people that wanted to subdivide the land,” Maize said. “But my client wanted to keep it together and update the property while maintaining the original feel, and it’s one of the reasons why their offer won.”
During the most recent ownership, a four-year remodel brought new finishes including bronze windows, reclaimed timbers, limestone floors and hand-laid stucco both inside and out.
The property features 14 flat, buildable acres, while the rest of the hillside estate is navigated by hiking trails. It includes eight Assessor’s Parcel Numbers, meaning a buyer could divide it into eight different properties. It would bring an end to the ranch’s impressive acreage, but offer plenty of incentive for a developer looking to add housing.
“The potential will be attractive to some,” Maize said. “But either way, the buyer will be someone that values privacy. The setting here is second to none.”
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