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.
The house is relatively small part of the value, it’s the location.
When somebody buys a property in Palm Beach, generally they tear down the standing house, and build a new one.
The rich really are different.
Someone once explained to me: “If you have to ask how much the house costs you can’t afford to live here.”
Your comments about entertaining large amounts remind me of the British Monarchy, during the Middle Ages, and especially by the Tudors, going out on Progresses to visit the estates of various aristocratic landowners in their court. The aristocrats would spend untold amounts of money to fix up and prepare their homes and property for the royal visit, to the tune of what would be millions of dollars today. And sometimes the visit never happened, or the king or queen with their entourage of hundreds of people only stayed an hour or two before moving on to the next estate on their Progress. Even back then homeowners were trying to put themselves in favor of the high mucky-mucks. And back in that time, the possibilities of a large manor house being destroyed by fire was even higher.