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Thomson media heiress lists 1920s estate for $43M
8,800-square-foot home one of the first homes built in Bel Air
Thomson Reuters heiress Taylor Thomson is listing her longtime Bel-Air estate for $43 million, a move that comes seven months after she closed a deal for a new place in neighboring Pacific Palisades.
Thomson paid $48.7 million for the Pacific Palisades property, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The roughly acre-size estate she’s selling in Bel Air is anchored by an 8,800-square-foot English Tudor-style home built in 1926. The home has seven bedrooms.
A listing from Drew Fenton with Hilton & Hyland said it was one of the first homes built in Bel Air. Fenton has the listing with Coldwell Banker Realty’s Jade Mills.
Thomson paid $7.4 million for the property in 2001 and undertook an extensive restoration and renovation. That included the restoration of original arched doorways and tilework.
The kitchen has been updated with new appliances, but retains its 1920s-style floor-to-ceiling tiled walls.
Thomson, clearly a fan of decorative tiling, added a guest house to the property, outfitting it with elaborate tile and stone floors and colorful tile features.
She said the look was inspired by Moroccan and Turkish designs. The guest house also has a bathtub made of an old copper cheese vat.
The grounds include an English-style garden, a fruit and vegetable garden, and a chicken coop.
Thomson closed one of the biggest residential deals of the year in April when she bought a 3.4-acre estate in Pacific Palisades from Vice Media co-founder Shane Smith. Smith had it on the market asking $50 million.
The estate is known as Villa Ruchello and is unusually large for its location on the Santa Monica border. It was featured in the film “Beverly Hills Cop” as well as HBO’s “Entourage” series.
Smith has since moved to a 7,500-square-foot home in Malibu. He bought the property a month after selling it to Thomson for $11.7 million.
Thomson’s grandfather Roy Thomson was a newspaper and news media mogul who amassed a number of outlets over his career, eventually bringing them together into the Thomson Organization, which eventually became Thomson Reuters.
[WSJ] — Dennis Lynch