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The estate known today as the Azria Estate has both square footage and story in abundance. Set behind gates on nearly three acres in Holmby Hills, this Georgian Colonial masterpiece is the largest residential commission of legendary architect Paul Williams’ career, a home shaped by three remarkable owners across eight decades. Now listed at $43.5 million, it offers something no new construction can replicate: provenance.
The Story: Three Visionaries, One Iconic Estate
The estate’s story begins in the late 1930s, when radio star Charles Correll — one of the most famous voices in America — commissioned Paul Williams to design his Holmby Hills residence. Completed in 1939, the home was an immediate landmark: stately, symmetrical, and unapologetically grand.
The second chapter belongs to Sidney Sheldon, the bestselling novelist and television producer, who expanded the estate by some 10,000 square feet and added a screening room befitting a Hollywood storyteller. The third and most recent chapter was written by Max Azria, the late founder of BCBG Max Azria Group, who brought a fashion designer’s eye to the property and transformed it into one of Los Angeles’ great entertaining estates — a backdrop for Oscar parties, fashion presentations, and charity galas.
In more than 80 years, Azria Estate has had just three owners. Each was a builder of culture; each left a layer of the home’s identity intact.
The Architecture: Paul Williams at His Grandest Scale
Paul Williams was one of the most important American architects of the twentieth century — the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects and the designer of homes for Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, and countless Hollywood elite. This estate was his largest original creation, and his signature is everywhere: grandiose columns, intricate crown moldings, and the beautifully balanced proportions that made his Georgian Colonial work timeless rather than period-bound.
The genius of the design is its discipline. For all its scale — roughly 30,000 square feet — the house never feels sprawling. Williams organized it around symmetry, sightlines, and ceremony, from the stately façade to the dramatic entry foyer.
The Interiors: Classic Bones, Contemporary French Soul
The interiors have been thoughtfully reimagined with a light contemporary hand — modern French influences layered over Williams’ original grandeur, with design touches attributed to Philippe Starck elevating the spaces without overshadowing them.
Rich parquet wood floors run beneath crisp white paneling, and expansive French doors dissolve the line between the formal rooms and the surrounding terraces and gardens. Upstairs, generously proportioned bedrooms feature ensuite baths and access to a balcony overlooking the manicured grounds. The primary suite functions as a private world of its own, complete with a marble fireplace, a spacious sitting area, and oversized walk-in closets.
Just beyond the main residence, a separate 6,000-square-foot structure houses a private theater and a grand office crowned by a gold-leaf ceiling — a room that has to be seen to be believed.
The Grounds: Five Gardens, One Private Resort
If the house is the estate’s heart, its 2.8 acres of grounds are its soul. Five distinct gardens unfold across the property, connected by cascading waterfalls: a serene Japanese garden with a teahouse, a formal French courtyard, and a working greenhouse among them.
The amenities read like a private resort: a striking blue-tiled infinity pool, a glass-enclosed tennis court with stadium seating, and a Moroccan-inspired bathhouse with an authentic hammam. It’s a landscape designed for every register of living — quiet mornings by the koi pond, championship-level tennis, and evenings that stretch from garden dinners to midnight screenings.
The pricing journey of Azria Estate tells its own story about the Los Angeles luxury market. The estate once asked as much as $85 million. Today, at $43.5 million — roughly $1,450 per square foot for a Paul Williams original on prime Holmby Hills acreage — the estate represents a genuine recalibration of value for one of the city’s most pedigreed properties.
For a buyer, the math is compelling: replacement cost alone for 30,000 square feet of custom construction on nearly three gated acres would far exceed the ask, before accounting for the land, the legacy, or the fact that there will never be another Paul Williams.
A Piece of Los Angeles History, Reimagined
Great estates are usually described in numbers — bedrooms, bathrooms, square feet. The Azria Estate is better described in chapters: a radio pioneer’s dream house, a storyteller’s expansion, a fashion legend’s stage. Its Georgian Colonial architecture has stood the test of time; its interiors speak fluently to modern life; its grounds remain among the most extraordinary in Holmby Hills.
Homes like this don’t come to market often — and they never come twice in the same condition, at the same moment, at this price. For the buyer who understands that true luxury is a story you get to continue, Azria Estate is waiting for its fourth chapter.
