Pharrell no longer owns California. Eighteen months after selling a bulbous glass mansion in the mountains above Sherman Oaks for $14 miℓℓio𝚗 to an unfamous married couple, the Grammy Award collector has sold his other Tinseltown home, a similarly eccentric but much slimmer and sleeker residential affair perched atop a narrow promontory deep in the Hollywood Hills.
Pharrell spent $7.1 miℓℓio𝚗 for the property in 2015, but the $9.2 miℓℓio𝚗 sale price is still higher than that.
The home’s new affluent owner is Sonder CEO and founder Francis Davidson. Davidson created Sonder in 2012 from his Montreal undergraduate apartment to rent out fellow students’ empty rooms.
As Sonder expanded, Davidson left college and moved to Silicon Valley. The company is valued $1.3 biℓℓio𝚗 after obtaining $550 miℓℓio𝚗 from Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk-backed venture capital funds.
Davidson may advertise his new Los Angeles home on Sonder, even though it would sell for a lot. Hagy Belzberg’s boomerang-shaped masterpiece was finished in 2007. It dominates Laurel Canyon and gives stunning city views.
Two years later, Belzberg and his wife sold the property to Denis Mikhaylov, a semi-mystеrious Russian industrialist, for $5.9 miℓℓio𝚗. Pharrell bought Mikhailov’s house years later.
This hilltop property, commonly known as Skyline Residence, was Ryan Gosling’s bachelor pad in the 2011 romantic comedy “Cгazy, Stᴜpid, Love.”
The 1.5-acre property is enormous by L.A. standards, but much of it is a sheer cliff. Belzberg observes that the approximately 6,000-square-foot main house and guesthouse had to be long and thin to fit the buildable footprint.
The Skyline Residence has a motor court separating the guesthouse and main house, which has a two-car garage, at the end of a long deɑd-end street and behind two gates.
A projector and the guesthouse’s single-plate folding roof make the estate’s outdoor movie theater cool. Davidson and his guests can watch a movie on the guesthouse’s façade while relaxing on the garage’s rooftop seats at night.
Belzberg’s motor court, a parking lot and family gathering spot, offers a fresh perspective.
The main residence’s glass doorway is a full flight of stairs from the vehicle court. A stainless steel-clad floating fireplace separates a terrazzo-floored living area with windows.
The living room overlooks the infinity-edged pool, canyons, and city lights.
A basic kitchen with quartz countertops and a four-person eating area adjoins the living room. The formal dining room has a floor-to-ceiling “green” wall.
The main home has four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, while the guesthouse has a suite. The master suite has a fireplace, seating, and spectacular views.
The main bathroom has a glass-walled shower, soaking tub, and money-green onyx.
The beautiful wood walk-in closet provides enough space for everyone but the most compulsive fashionistas.
The property has an office. Like most of the house, this room opens to the pool.