Billionaire Stavros Niarchos Buys Hedi Slimane’s Midcentury Modern Masterpiece

After nearly three years on and off the market at steadily declining prices, the sublime Beverly Hills estate of French fashion designer Hedi Slimane has sold for $13.5 million — significantly under the initial $17.5 million ask but still well over the $4.7 million that Celine’s creative director paid back in 2009. Per records, the off-market buyer is an entity linked to Stavros Niarchos III, the billionaire Greek shipping heir who appears to have a thing for well-preserved midcentury modern homes.

Back in 2011, Niarchos famously paid $12.8 million for Richard Neutra’s Kronish House, one of the most prized archictural properties in Beverly Hills. He subsequently spent millions and years restoring the place. And in 2019, he also acquired the $15 million mansion immediately next door to that midcentury treasure.

Slimane’s former Beverly Hills digs lie just up the hill from the Kronish house, and they too sport a designer pedigree. Built in 1961 by vaunted modernist architect Rex Lotery, the 1961 residence lies on a coveted cul-de-sac high in Trousdale Estates, a neighborhood pocket of Beverly Hills known for its many midcentury modern homes. Hewn from a choice mixture of steel and glass, the 4,600-square-foot structure has five bedrooms and six bathrooms.

While the the home’s starkly austere interiors may divide opinions, they’ve been painstakingly maintained and preserved. Behind security gates, a minimalist bridge hovers over a shallow reflecting pool on its way to the front door, and multi-level interior spaces feature walls of glass, a double-sided fireplace, large formal rooms, a combo library/media lounge and a gourmet kitchen with a chic array of top-end appliances.

Outside, the nearly half-acre property keeps things simple with patches of grassy lawn, broad expanses of pebble-stone patios, an irregularly shaped swimming pool and a jungle’s worth of tropical trees and other associated plantings. Some of the other midcentury homes on this same Trousdale Estate cul-de-sac are owned by an array of musical folks — Ryan Tedder, Blink182’s Mark Hoppus and Motown music legend Clarence Avant. And immediately next door to the Slimane property is a Hollywood Regency-style villa that was recently sold by trophy property collector Ellen DeGeneres.

Born in New York City but raised primarily in Paris, Niarchos’ business operations and philanthropic organizations are now based out of Monaco. The 36-year-old first became known as a playboy in the mid-2000s; he reportedly dated both Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in quick succession. Today, he’s settled down and is married to international socialite and art patron Dasha Zhukova, ex-wife of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.