For months after a July foreclosure auction, nobody knew who was behind the limited liability company that bought Casa Encantada, one of Bel Air‘s most storied estates, in Pomona. Now it’s been revealed that the buyer was Peter Thiel.
Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and billionaire venture capitalist, is now the newest owner of a 40,000-square-foot piece of L.A. history. For $130 million, it’s one of Los Angeles’ most expensive homes.
The mansion has had many famous owners before Thiel, including Conrad Hilton, hotel magnate and founder of the Hilton Hotels Chain, who bought the home in 1950 for $225,000 (about $3.1 million in 2026) and lived there until he died in 1979.
Peter Thiel, the newest owner of Casa Encantada, attending the Axel Springer Award ceremony in September 2026.picture alliance / Getty Images
It was he who named it Casa Encantada, describing in his autobiography Be My Guest that “it was a case of love at first sight. From the moment I stood alone in the first floor gallery I knew it was for me, Casa Encantada.” He maintained its original decoration style, carefully selected by its previous owner, Hilda Boldt Weber.
Weber commissioned the home in 1936 after she bought 9.5 acres of a gorgeous hilltop site in Bel Air. In the midst of the Great Depression, she purchased the land for $100,000 (about $2.4 million in 2026).
As an outsider to the Los Angeles film community, she spared no expense on her new home, which cost more than $2 million in total (about $47.5 million in 2026). She threw lavish parties and spent almost her entire net worth on building and decorating her house. It is therefore not totally surprising that she put the house up for sale only 10 years later for $1.5 million—less than she had originally spent to build and decorate it.
Another previous owner was billionaire businessman David Murdock, who purchased the estate in 1980, a year after Hilton died, for $12.4 million (about $50 million in 2026), setting a national residential sales record. In 2000, Murdock then sold it to Gary and Karen Winnick for $94 million ($175 million in 2026), setting yet another record.
After Gary’s passing in 2023, Karen listed the home for $250 million. The home fell into foreclosure after entities tied to Gary defaulted on more than $150 million in loans, which is how Thiel was able to get it at the price he did.
Thiel’s $130 million is roughly half of Karen’s asking price of $250 million, and less—in today’s dollars—than the Winnicks paid for it in 2000.
Casa Encantada’s history shows the highs and lows involved in owning a home like this. Weber spent her fortune on it and sold at a loss; debts tied to Gary Winnick ended in foreclosure. Hilton, by contrast, lived there for nearly three decades and wrote about his love-at-first-sight experience. The outcome of Thiel’s time there remains to be seen.
Related: In 2021, Diana Jenkins paid $13 million for a Hidden Hills mansion; five years later, the former ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star listed it for $23 million
Hence then, the article about conrad hilton paid 225 000 for a bel air mansion in 1950 76 years later it sold at a foreclosure auction for 130 million and peter thiel has been revealed as the buyer was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Conrad Hilton paid $225,000 for a Bel Air mansion in 1950; 76 years later it sold at a foreclosure auction for $130 million, and Peter Thiel has been revealed as the buyer )
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