Billionaire’s Son Buys Nantucket-Inspired Sunset Strip Home

When your father sports a net worth that exceeds $30 billion, per Forbes, the question isn’t so much what house you can afford to buy — it’s what house you want to buy. So credit must be given to Val Blavatnik, the 25-year-old son of international business tycoon Len Blavatnik, who probably could have bought any property he wanted but chose to keep it conservative, spending under $5 million on his first L.A. home purchase.

Five million dollars is still a very large amount of money, of course. But in this rarefied neck of the woods, a particularly desirable pocket of the Hollywood Hills that lies just above the Sunset Strip, it’s downright reasonable.

Mostly hidden from the street behind gates and an overgrown bougainvillea hedge, Blavatnik’s new home dates to the 1930s. Last sold in 2019 for $4.1 million, the place has a bit of Hollywood history. From 2008-2013, it was owned by Marcia Lucas, the film editor famed for her work on the original “Star Wars” trilogy and the first wife of George Lucas.

Per the listing, the East Coast traditional-style home offers “both classic and modern programming.” The interiors have clearly undergone a dramatic contemporary transformation in recent years, complete with white oak flooring and copious amounts of Benjamin Moore white paint throughout. Large windows allow plenty of natural sunlight to filter into the structure, which offers three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in a reasonable 3,200 square feet of living space.

The ground floor consists of a powder room, a formal living room, an adjoining dining room, and a large den with a vaulted ceiling. Both the den and the dining room have direct access to the sunny backyard, and both are serviced by a marble-clad gourmet kitchen with Wolf appliances.

All three bedrooms are located on the home’s upper level, and all sport ensuite baths. They consist of a master suite with a private balcony and marble bathroom, a secondary master with a sitting area, and a smaller third suite ideal for guests or a live-in staff member.

The roughly 9,000-square-foot lot isn’t particularly huge, but it does offer a spacious brick terrace overlooking the backyard’s grassy lawn and outdoor kitchen. At the far rear of the lot, privately surrounded by tall trees and bamboo thickets, lies a dark-bottom plunge pool with a spa; out front, the property offers an attached two-car garage and brick motorcourt with space for an additional four or five cars.

Blavatnik, who has a professional background in both music and TV production, was elected to Warner Music Group’s board of directors last month. WMG is chiefly owned by his father, who took the company public in 2020 at a $13.3 billion valuation.

The elder Blavatnik, 65, was born in Ukraine but grew up in Russia, where he earned his first billions in the aluminum and oil industries following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, he has major investment holdings in various industries all over the globe. He’s also one of the world’s leading trophy collectors, with lavish homes in Greenwich, New York, London and France, several private jets and an $80 million superyacht.