Too modern for my taste.
Yes that is the caveat about L.A. real estate - it’s mostly nouveau riche and airy in style — lacking the European elegance of say, Gilded Age era homes in places like Manhattan.
A house like that, if it serves any rational function at all, is a stage for very large scale entertaining. This of course has always been the case for the great country homes tradition.
Parking money in a big house as a tax and investment strategy is also sometimes a factor, but given how far left California has gone, I wonder if anyone still does that. The financial advisors probably steer people elsewhere at this point.
I’ve staffed fundraisers at private homes that large — never that style, as it’s a different part of the country, but as large. When the president is the draw and 500+ guests are writing big checks, you need a suitable stage and the usual handful of downtown venues are old hat to all concerned.
The question is, how many times a year does one have to entertain at that scale to rationalize the cost, not to mention the lifestyle accomodations involved in living surrounded by staff.
At some point, vulgar and ostentious display can take over, and that tends to be what we assume when we think of the entertainment moguls. That’s a familiar Hollywood disease. But some people are on the A-list entertaining treadmill for business reasons, and there’s something to be said for the convenience of doing it at home. Especially since staff will be doing all the work.
It’s careless to assume that the people with such houses are idiots. Some of them are, given the screwy nature of the entertainment industry, but most of the people in these houses aren’t idiots. They have reasons for buying them.