The fire devastating California’s Bel Air community is also roaring through the vineyard of media mogul and Realtor.com owner Rupert Murdoch.
Murdoch’s 16-acre Moraga Vineyards estate appeared to be burning as of Wednesday morning, according to a local NBC News affiliate in Los Angeles. The vineyard is located near the 405 Freeway, which has been partially closed down. NBC reported that staff at the villa was ordered to evacuate the property, which features a 7,500-square-foot house that’s surrounded by olive trees and chicken.
“Wizard of Oz” director Victor Fleming previously owned the property, which he built in 1939, and Thomas V. Jones purchased it in 1959 with his wife Ruth. Murdoch then bought the property in 2013 for $28.8 million.
Murdoch, who lives there with his wife Jerry Hall when he’s in L.A., told Bloomberg in July that he bought the vineyard after it appeared in the fifth edition of Wall Street Journal Mansion.
The Real Deal recently ran an in-depth analysis on Murdoch’s attempt to make Realtor.com a major competitor to Zillow. [The Daily Beast and LAT] – Eddie Small