Jay Paley House

Jay Paley and his brother Samuel were Russian immigrants who had founded the Congress Cigar Company, manufacturers of the La Palina brand, in Chicago in the 1890s.[1] The Paley family founded the Columbia Broacasting System (CBS), and Paley subsequently sold a substantial shareholdingin 1928 for several million dollars. He became a film producer in the early 1930s, and in 1934 founded JayPay Productions with film executive Walter Wanger in association with Paramount Studios in 1934. He sold further CBS shares to Samuel Paley, his brother, and his nephew William S. Paley to finance his film production company.

Paley and his wife Lilian moved to Los Angeles, and the house was commissioned.[5] Williams had previously designed a house for Jay Paley's nephew, William S. Paley, at 200 South Mapleton Drive that was completed in 1934. Paley subsequently invested in the Arrowhead Springs Hotel, which was also designed by Williams.

After Paley's death in 1961, the furnishings were sold at auction and the estate subdivided and developed. [6] The house, retaining the pool & tennis court, sold for $475,000 (equivalent to US4,063,948 in 2019)[3] to Barron Hilton.[1] The businessman and hotelier lived at the house until his death in 2019.

Hilton's late father Conrad's 1937 60-room, 40,000 sqft[7] house, which the elder Hilton named Casa Encandata,[8] is located nearby at 10644 Belagio Road,[9] adjacent to the Bel-Air Country Club. Following Conrad’s death in 1979, it sold for a then-US record of $12.4 million,[10] despite not being altered since it was purchased for $225,000 in 1950.[11] It sold again in 2000 for $94 million, again a new national record.[5] The house was listed for $225 million in 2019, the most expensive listing in the country at the time.[7] The listing agent was Barron's son, Rick.

The two storey brick house is designed as a modified H-plan,[1] made up of 32 rooms.[4] The northwest and southwest wings and center are extended to form an E-configuration from the flat facade. The entrance door is framed with wooden columns and a pediment. The rear of the house also has extended northeast and southwest wings, with a two-storey conical roof supported by columns summouting the semicircular southeast wing. A central hall runs the entire length of the house from north to south. A large living room is to the right, it opens to a small garden and ornamental pond. The first floor is the site of the music room and the library. The east side of the house contains the dining room, a breakfast room, and four maids rooms with a separate living room. A private garden for the servants is located next to the service wing.[5]

Writing in The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills, Jeffrey Hyland felt that the house marked a 'new direction' for Williams as He started with the traditional English Georgian style and then gave the residence a thoroughly modernist spirit, creating a residence that was both traditional and contemporary.[5] The style of the house has also been described as Hollywood Regency and English Georgian.[1][3]

The house was built by the building contractors O'Neal and Sons, at a cost of $100,000 (equivalent to USD1,864,806 in 2019).[1]

From 1985-1987 the house featured as The Belvedere, the family home of the fictional Los Angeles-based billionaire Colby family in The Colbys. The show was a spin-off of the classic 1980s prime time soap opera Dynasty. Exterior filming took place, as well as extensive aerial shots.

Exterior and interiors were also shown during the first season of The Simple Life, a reality show starring Hilton's granddaughter Paris, in 2003.