Bing Crosby’s Mansion Sells for $25 Million

Bing Crosby’s French chateau-style estate in the ritzy Bay Area enclave of Hillsborough has sold for $25 million.

The sale of Crosby’s longtime home, which has remained in his family after his death in 1977, is one of the top five priciest in Hillsborough history, Mansion Global reported. It marks a deep discount from the $40 million original asking price when it first went up for sale earlier this year.

Crosby’s son Harry put the 18,535-square-foot estate on the market after matriarch Kathryn died last fall. The couple moved into the home at 1200 Jackling Drive in 1965 as Bing sought a quieter life away from Hollywood, The Wall Street Journal reported when the home went up for sale.

“It’s difficult to turn the page emotionally, but all good things come to an end,” Harry said.

The home includes 11 bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms and five half bathrooms, as well as a library, a smoking room and a wing of rooms set aside for staff. It was built in the 1920s for the family of Charles Howard, the owner of legendary racehorse Seabiscuit. Howard bought the 17th-century staircase and antique paneling featured in the chateau from news magnate William Randolph Hearst.

Bing Crosby’s Mansion Sells for $25 Million — 1200 Jackling Drive via Jason Wells Photography and Golden Gate Creative

The property “blend[s] Hollywood history, architectural grandeur and Northern California prestige,” Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty listing agent Jennifer Gilson told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It embodies a level of elegance and privacy that is nearly impossible to replicate today.”

The buyer’s identity was not disclosed, but the buyer’s agent Alex Buljan of Compass assured locals that the building’s character would be kept intact.

“This property is one of Hillsborough’s legacy estates with an extremely storied background and impeccable vintage craftsmanship,” Buljan said in a statement to Sacramento Bee. “The buyer is a Hillsborough local with an appreciation for classic properties, adamant about maintaining the character and history into the next generation.”

The Hillsborough manse was Crosby’s main longtime residence, but the “White Christmas” crooner maintained other properties throughout the state.

His Rancho Mirage ranch sold in 2022 for nearly $4.2 million. That property, once the storied location of a tryst between Marilyn Monroe and President John F. Kennedy, went up for sale once again late last year for $13.5 million.

Other outposts once owned by Crosby include a ranch in Elko, Nevada that hit the market in 2019 and a home in Los Angeles’ Toluca Lake neighborhood. He also once lived in the Silver Spur Ranch community in Palm Desert and created the Blue Skies Village Trailer Park in Rancho Mirage, founded in the early 1950s and named after the 1946 film in which he starred.

— Chris Malone Méndez