If this Holmby Hills estate recently purchased by billionaire entrepreneur Isaac Larian was one of those sassy Bratz dolls the toy tycoon’s credited with creating, it could definitely be Jade — a quirky yet confident “Kool Kat” that’s not afraid to stand out from the crowd. Think a gated entrance flanked by a pair of stone Chinese guardian lion statues (sometimes called foo dogs) meant to protect the grounds and people within from harm, paired with a backyard boasting a magical landscape design marked by rows upon rows of maze-like shrubbery and an unusual octagonal-shaped pool bordered by a tropical paradise, just for starters.
Add to that a juxtaposition of out-of-the-ordinary interiors, and you have the epitome of Jade … only in a house. Sometimes colorful and playful (can you say walls in bright hues of red-orange and mustard?) and, in other occurrences, serene and muted, they’re highlighted by a wide selection of ceiling heights topped by a swath of designer lighting choices. The décor, meanwhile, ranges from Zen-inducing Tibetan statues and Shoji sliding screen doors, to a flashy fireplace encased within a mirrored accent wall.
Perhaps it’s the eclectic nature of the estate that appealed to the Iranian-born founder of MGA Entertainment (the world’s largest privately-owned toy company, which also manufactures those astonishingly popular L.O.L. Surprise! dolls) when he plopped down $18.5 million to purchase the coveted property — which lies on one of the most prestigious streets in Holmby Hills — earlier this month.
But more likely, it was the prime locale. After all, the estate is found on an acre-plus parcel of land directly across from Larian’s longtime home, an 11,000-square-foot mansion he and his longtime wife Angela custom-built in the mid-1990s. It’s also just up the road from an even larger property that was purchased last year for $29.3 million by developer Ryan Hekmat and his wife Jasmin (Larian’s daughter, and owner of popular apparel brand Cult Gaia).