The Legacy Of W. Barron Hilton: A Historic Bel Air Estate On The Market For $75 Million

On November 30, Rick Hilton listed the most important real estate deal of his more than 30-year career – the home he grew up in, the estate of W. Barron Hilton. The Bel Air mansion has hit the market for the first time in nearly 60 years – during which it has been owned by just two people – for $75 million. Barron was the son of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, he pledged 97% of his wealth and assets to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. The Bel Air estate is part of the 3% of his wealth and assets he held onto. The home sits on 2.5 acres and was designed by the influential Black architect Paul R. Williams for CBS founder Jay Paley in 1935. At the time, it cost $100,000 to build, which is equal to about $1.8 million today. When Paley died in 1961, the estate was split up into separate lots, but the house and most of the land was sold to Barron Hilton. Hilton raised his family there and lived there until his death at 91 in 2019.

The late Barron Hilton originally didn’t want to follow in his father Conrad’s footsteps and founded Carte Blanche Credit Card, Air Finance Corporation, and the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers, as well as helped negotiate the AFL's merger with the NFL to create the Super Bowl. Then he went to work as the elevator operator at the El Paso Hilton. He was named President and CEO in 1996. Rick Hilton, 65, was 12 when he and his five brothers and two sisters moved into the Bel Air estate. Rick Hilton is listing the home with his 31-year-old son Barron N. Hilton. The younger Barron joined his father’s real estate firm two years ago.

The house is in the Holmby Hills area of Bel-Air. The white brick house is reached via two circular driveways that are behind wrought iron gates. The home is traditional English Georgian architecture with double doors and a fairly modern interior. The 15,000-square-foot home is the pinnacle of architect Paul R. Williams’ work. Williams also designed homes for Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball. The Hilton family made no structural changes to the house, which still has the same floor plans as it did when Williams designed it back in the 1930s. The home features metal sliding doors and floor-to-ceiling windows, which were exceptionally rare back in 1935.

The home features a circular breakfast room, large terraces, and koi ponds. It has 12 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms as well as large rooms for entertaining, including a step-down living room and formal dining room. The office has been the study of two iconic business tycoons. The pool is the real show-stopper of the house. It’s called the Zodiac Pool and details all 12 astrological signs in turquoise, sky, and platinum blues. The thousands of hand-painted tiles were painted in France and brought to Los Angeles piece by piece. The sun is the focal point of the mural and its rays stretch out across the almost Olympic length pool.

Rick Hilton spoke about some of the epic parties that were hosted on the lawn and tennis courts of the estate, often with more than 1,000 guests. When Rick Hilton sold the Beverly Hilton to Merv Griffin in 1987, the estate was the site of an epic celebration of that $100 million deal.

Rick and Barron N. Hilton are representing the home via Hilton and Hyland luxury real estate firm, which was founded by Rick Hilton and Jeff Hyland in 1993. Today, the firm has 140 agents and about $3.6 billion in sales each year.