Homes for Sale in Beverly Hills

Search all homes for sale in Beverly Hills, CA and real estate listings. Beverly Hills is an iconic American city as famous as its denizens. It began humbly as a lima bean field, but when the municipality was incorporated in 1914, it began its metamorphosis into the hub of wealth and glamour that it is today.

Forever immortalized in film, music, and television, the notion of living in Beverly Hills carries a certain cachet. While the homes here are certainly pricey, in many respects the city is a normal, medium-sized town with excellent parks, libraries, and other amenities that ensure a high quality of life for all.

Beverly Hills Real Estate Listings

Beverly Hills, CA

The City of Beverly Hills is bordered by Bel Air, Holmby Hills, the Los Angeles Country Club, and Westwood/Century City to the west; Beverly Hills Post Office/Beverly Crest to the north; the Hollywood Hills (the Bird Streets, Doheny Estates, and Laurel Canyon), West Hollywood, Beverly Center/Miracle Mile/Beverly Grove, and Carthay to the east; and Pico-Robertson/Beverlywood Vicinity to the South.

Beverly Hills is one of the three communities that comprise the Platinum Triangle of Los Angeles along with the neighborhoods of Holmby Hills and Bel Air. Of the Platinum Triangle, Beverly Hills is the most populated, densest, and the only one that contains a business district. The most famous business district of Beverly Hills is Rodeo Drive.

Most people associate Beverly Hills with high-end shopping and the gently winding tree-lined streets of "The Flats," but these areas only comprise a third of the city. Colloquially, "Beverly Hills" is lumped together with "Beverly Hills Post Office," which technically falls within the city limits of Los Angeles.

Beverly Hills Real Estate

Beverly Hills contains some of the most expensive homes and most exclusive enclaves in the Los Angeles area.

Beverly Hills was incorporated in 1914 by a group of investors after first buying the land for oil prospecting. Although they found some oil, the amount found did not justify their investment. When they found water, the investors decided to subdivide and sell off plots of land. From the outset, Beverly Hills was designed with a vision of a unique and perfect no-expense-spared luxury community. The city's first engineer, Arthur Pillsbury, recalled a discussion with investor Charles Canfield: "Canfield was the man that insisted everything be done in the best possible manner regardless of expense. It had to be perfect. Canfield's instructions were merely this: "Make the best subdivision that man can make, regardless of cost."

The investment group, organized under the name Rodeo Land and Water Company, hired Wilber David Cook, Jr., a landscape architect who had worked for the famous Fredrick Law Olmstead, to draft a master plan for the community. The street plan, consisting of a series of gently curving streets, was insisted upon by Percy Clark, a Realtor who would eventually show houses in Beverly Hills using a horse-drawn carriage. A horticulturalist, the first to successfully transplant large trees in Southern California, was brought in and insisted on using one type of tree per street to create a distinctive and harmonious look.

Cook is credited with the layering of Beverly Hills into three distinct sections. Estates for the wealthy were planned for the largest lots situated in the foothills north of Sunset Boulevard, with "the flats" laid out on the flat land south of Sunset Boulevard. A rail line that ran along Santa Monica Boulevard divided the flats, with the area "north of the tracks," located between Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, projected to attract middle-class residents. The area often dismissed as "south of the tracks" was formally called "Beverly." The smaller lots in Beverly were less restricted, built on more urban-sized blocks, and sold to workers who were to serve the residents living north of Santa Monica. Over time, some of those viewed as lower-class became quite wealthy as the land south of Santa Monica developed into the Beverly Hills business district and land values increased drastically.

Cook's plan for the city has remained mostly intact to this day with the largest concentration of apartment buildings south of Wilshire and an increase in lot size and home prices as you go north into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, with one exception being the smaller lots (but large land value) in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood that was developed after the Doheny Ranch was subdivided. The development contains many mid-century architectural masterpieces by renowned architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, A. Quincy Jones, Harold Levitt, Wallace Neff, and Paul R. Williams.

The first house in Beverly Hills was built in 1907, but sales were slow and it was not until 1914 the subdivision had a large enough population to incorporate as an independent city. Rodeo Land and Water Company marketed their land with a brochure titled, "Between the City and the Sea." Among other sales pitches, the brochure claimed future development of a subway line to Downtown, making the trip to Beverly Hills a 15-minute journey (a plan that never developed and is funny considering it would take until 2010 before Beverly Hills residents would support mass transportation within the city). With initial sales slow the Rodeo investors began building spec homes so the land did not look undeveloped and offered a ten percent discount to anyone paying cash and a ten percent discount to anyone starting construction within six months.

The success of Beverly Hills is attributed to a few key occurrences in its early history:

• The first was the agreement by one of the initial investors to run a line of his railroad, Los Angeles-Pacific, along a street named Rodeo Drive to a new stop in front of a planned but not-yet-built hotel before turning west along Sunset Boulevard and ending at the Pacific Ocean.
• Arguably the most important development in the subdivision's success was the Beverly Hills Hotel opening in 1912. One of the initial investors offered a $323,000 mortgage to a local hotelier to build and own a hotel with Rodeo throwing in the land for free. The new hotel attracted the curious and winter vacationers, many of whom bought lots, built homes, and relocated to Beverly Hills. The hotel was the heart of the city and besides being the only restaurant in town functioned as the community center, movie theater, and local church. Tourists staying at the hotel would meet and interact with homeowners who came to the hotel for dinner or to attend church services, concerts, barbecues, and Sunday night movies. As a result, the hotel was the most effective piece of marketing the Rodeo group employed in promoting their development.
• Original deeds codified restrictions on residents based on race. Movie industry people who had begun to colonize nearby Hollywood were also forbidden. Eventually those movie people and the associated glamor helped secure the position of Beverly Hills as the stars sought respectability and privacy from the press after scandals brought on by drugs, homosexuality, and mysterious deaths shook the movie community in Hollywood. The publicity garnered from movie stars such as Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Will Rogers, and Rudolph Valentino moving into Beverly Hills was the last major factor contributing to the early success of Beverly Hills.

Once established, Beverly Hills flourished. Between 1919 and 1927, an acre in Downtown Beverly Hills increased in value from $1,000 to $435,000.

Notable Beverly Hills Estates and Homes:

• 501 Doheny Road (a.k.a. Greystone Mansion and Doheny Estate): Tudor and Jacobean architectural style. City park, famous filming location, and on the National Register of Historic Places. Architect: Gordon Kaufmann
• 1740 Green Acres Place (a.k.a. Greenacres and the Harold Lloyd Estate): Former home of Harold Lloyd. Added to the National Register of Historic Places. Architect: Webber, Staunton & Spaulding; Landscape Architect: A.E. Hanson
• 1100 Carolyn Way (a.k.a. Shadow Hill and Gray Hall): Former home of Douglas Fairbanks, the first actor-resident of Beverly Hills
• 1143 Summit Drive (a.k.a. Pickfair): Now demolished. Former home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers, and Pia Zadora and Meshulam Riklis. Also owned by Jerry Buss. Zadora first claimed the home was razed due to termites, but years later claimed she and Riklis tore down the house because of a ghost
• 1360 Summitridge Place: 2013 contemporary architectural home. Architects: Marmol Radziner
• 1130 Schuyler Road (a.k.a. The Knoll): Former home of Kenny Rogers, Dino De Laurentiis, and Marvin Davis. Architect: Roland Coate
• 615 North Beverly Drive: 1939 Pennsylvania Dutch Colonial Revival style home. Former home of producer Jerry Wald. Architect: Gerald Colcord
• 904 North Beverly Drive: 1939 Traditional home. Home of Pat Boone
• 706 North Arden Drive: Former home of Alan Ladd Jr.
• 1011 North Beverly Drive (a.k.a. Beverly House): Former home of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies and Honeymoon Hideaway of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline. Used as a film set in The Godfather and The Bodyguard.
• 9425 Sunset Boulevard: Former home of Madonna
• 9481 Sunset Boulevard (a.k.a. Sunset House): Architect: Francis Xavier Lourdou
• 9755 Sunset Boulevard: Now demolished after burning down. Former home of Max Whittier, a co-founder of Beverly Hills
• 920 North Foothill Road (a.k.a. Sherwood Residence): 1962 Mid-Dentury Modern home. Architect: A. Quincy Jones
• 1000 North Crescent (a.k.a. Harry Cohn Estate): Built in 1927 for Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn. Owned by Jerry Bruckheimer and Georges Marciano. Architect: Robert D. Farquhar
• 1005 Benedict Canyon Drive: Former Home of Bruce Willis and Alan Ladd, Jr.
• 805 North Linden Drive (a.k.a. Hughes Crash House): Built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Former home of Rosemary DeCamp. In 1946, after failing an emergency landing on the Los Angeles Country Club, Howard Hughes crashed a prototype of the XH-11 Aircraft into the home, damaging the roof and an upper bedroom. Architect: Wallace Neff
• 910 North Bedford Drive (a.k.a. Anthony-Kerry House): 1907 Craftsman home is #14 on Beverly Hills Register of Historic Properties. Architects: Greene and Greene
• 913 North Bedford Drive: 1926 Spanish Colonial Revival. Former home of Marlene Dietrich
• 519 North Bedford Drive: Architects: Buff and Hensman
• 602 North Roxbury Drive: 1926 Spanish Colonial Revival. Former home of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
• 818 North Roxbury Drive: 1999 architectural estate. Architect: Leonardo Umansky
• 1023 North Roxbury Drive: Former home of Agnes Moorehead. Interior Designer: Tony Duquette
• 1054 Shadow Hill Way: 1960 Mid-Century Modern post-and-beam design. Architect: Wallace Neff
• 9340 Monte Leon Lane: 2013. Architect: Leonardo Umansky
• 1243 Lago Vista Drive: 1976. Architect: Fred Smathers
• 1705 Angelo Drive: 1956 Mid-Century Modern home. Architect: William Stephenson
• 1210 Coldwater Canyon Drive (a.k.a. The Rosenstiel/Augunas Residence): 1950 Mid-Century Modern home that was renovated in 2005. Architect: Victor Gruen
• 1169 Loma Linda Drive: 2009 glass and steel architectural. Built by developer Raffi Cohen. Architect: Ed Niles
• 1170 Loma Linda Drive: 1951 Traditional home. Architect: Gerard Colcord
• 1178 Loma Linda Drive: 1951 Traditional home. Architect: Gerard Colcord
• 808 North Crescent Drive: 1924 home is a blend of French Provincial and Hollywood Regency. Former home of songwriter Robert B. Sherman
• 627 North Palm Drive: 1929 Spanish Villa. Architect: Ralph Flewelling
• 622 North Elm Drive: 1983 Contemporary architectural home. Published in Architectural Digest
• 1200 Laurel Lane (a.k.a. Samuel Goldwyn Estate): 1934 Traditional home. Former home of Samuel Goldwyn

Notable Beverly Hills Residents (Past and Present):

• Elvis Presley: Musician and Actor
• Douglas Fairbanks: Actor, Screenwriter, Director and Producer
• Mary Pickford: Actress, Co-Founder of United Artists, and Co-Founder of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
• Buddy Rogers: Actor and Jazz Musician
• Will Rogers: Actor, Cowboy, and Humorist
• Kenny Rogers: Musician, Actor, and Entrepreneur
• Rudolph Valentino: Actor
• Harold Lloyd: Actor and Comedian
• Frank Sinatra: Singer and Actor
• Dean Martin: Singer, Actor, and Comedian
• Tony Curtis: Actor
• Ray Charles: Musician
• Richard Nixon: 37th President of the United States
• William Randolph Hearst: Newspaper Publisher, Congressman, and Politician
• Marion Davies: Actress, Screenwriter, and Producer
• Jennifer Aniston: Actress
• David Spade: Comedian and Actor
• Vera Wang: Fashion Designer
• Madonna: Musician
• Courtney Cox: Actress
• David Arquette: Actor
• Mitzy Gaynor: Actress, Singer, and Dancer
• Charlie Sheen: Actor
• Bruce Willis: Actor
• Christina Aguilera: Singer-Songwriter and Producer
• Marvin Davis: Oilman and Owner of Twentieth Century Fox
• Alan Ladd, Jr.: Producer and Film Industry Executive
• Abraham M. Lurie: Real Estate Developer who shaped Marina Del Rey
• Dino De Laurentiis: Film Producer
• Simon Cowell: Television Personality
• Meshulam Riklis: Businessman
• Pia Zadora: Actress and Singer
• Agnes Moorehead: Actress

Beverly Hills Realtors®

Buying or selling a home? If you're looking to buy a home, contact our Beverly Hills real estate agents; we're the LOCAL experts and can answer all of your home buying and neighborhood questions. If you're thinking of selling your home in the area, our listing agents can provide dates and prices of recently sold homes nearby, up-to-date real estate market information, and previous sales history.