For $35.995 million, you can own a glass house in Beverly Hills built by Ed Niles that was formerly used as a hangout for celebrities like Meek Mill and Justin Bieber.
The Beverly Hills Glass House, a glass and steel home with 7,500 square feet of living area and an infinity pool that overlooks Los Angeles, is situated on a half-acre site on Loma Linda Drive.
The modernist architect Niles, who is well-known for his futuristic, angular homes throughout Malibu and Beverly Hills, was hired by real estate developer Raffi Cohen to build the house in 2009. Niles’s goal was to give his family a home that felt both insulated from society and open to nature.
The main goal, according to the Malibu-based Niles, was to enclose the family in a spacious inner court that would serve as the gathering place for all family activities. This is akin to a traditional Spanish home.
The six-bedroom house’s main circular glass structure, which encircles the courtyard, has earned it the colloquial nickname “salad spinner.” The main room, with nearly 360-degree views of Beverly Hills, is housed in a second circular offshoot, and a guest suite is housed in a connecting cube.
Since the family is constantly in sight of one another, the glass ring fosters a sense of unity, according to Niles. He remarked, “The family is divided by distance, but they are not divided by the fact that you can look across the court.” “That’s very different from typical houses, where hallways divide everything.”
In late May, Jade Mills Roza Mehdizadeh of Coldwell Banker Realty Beverly Hills offered the residence for sale or lease. According to Mills, “it really is a totally different living experience.”
Despite being designed with families in mind, the property has a reputation for being a party spot. Since paying $10.5 million for it in 2014, the sellers have been renting it out, with monthly prices ranging from $50,000 to $85,000, according to Mills. Justin Bieber was one of their first renters; the Los Angeles Times stated that he leased the apartment soon after leaving Calabasas after an altercation with his neighbor. Meek Mill was sued shortly afterward for allegedly throwing a wild party to celebrate the 2015 Grammy Awards.
Although there is a lot of glass, the exposure is moderated by the surrounding vegetation, and the residence is set apart from its neighbors by a ribbed metal exterior that provides significant privacy while maximizing the views from the location.
Nature is brought in, not taken in, however artificially. It like a terrarium, Niles remarked.
The modular design of the house also pays homage to other of NIles’ previous residences, such as a futuristic steel-and-glass home that was constructed in Malibu in 1992 and is sometimes referred to as a “fortress,” since the main living area is divided from the other rooms, which are arranged along a 60-foot spine.
Other properties in Niles have listed for anything from $6.5 million for a 1970s original to $68.8 million for a beachfront megamansion built by Feng Shui; however, the property is currently scheduled for auction. In May, a Malibu home with a butterfly motif went up for $29.5 million.