Just before selling a modern-style home in Beverly Crest to John Mayer for $13.5 million, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine plunked down substantially more virtual green for a somewhat larger home in greater Beverly Hills.
The house comes with a distinguished history. It has, at one time or another, been hearth and home to tennis legend Pete Sampras, and to—its most recent owners—entertainment-industry duo Erik Hyman, a lawyer, and Max Mutchnick, a television producer and writer.
Details on the 10,000 square-foot house are scant, but Sampras apparently sold the home to Mutchnick for about $23 million in 2008, with the latter passing it on to Levine for about $34 million. The latest transfer of ownership was carried off quietly; the home was not for sale long enough to reach the open market.
Dating to 1933, the house features neo-Tudor architecture. The grounds have been landscaped to highlight the estate’s ancient trees, with a tropical garden and an oval swimming pool providing complexity and recreating potential. There is a tennis court on the property, of course, and Sampras used it daily during his career, as well as a putting green. A detached guest house fills out the roughly one acre of grounds.
Under Mutchnick’s tenure, the home has seen significant renovations that brighten and expand. The neo-Tudor style is well-known as traditionally incorporating a great deal of dark wood, and the renovations modernize and release the home from a more ponderous interior atmosphere.
Levine and Maroon 5 tour this year in support of their newest studio release, ‘Red Pill Blues.’
Sampras earned the nickname ‘Pistol Pete’ for his serve and forehand velocity; the moniker may indicate—depending on how you feel about puns—that he is, in fact, a retired tennis racqueteer. In any event, he took home fourteen Grand Slam titles during his career, and he continues to hold the ATP record of six consecutive year-end number one rankings. A fair comparison between the achievements of Sampras and those of active champions Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal remains impossible; Sampras had to face down numerous opponents who were legends in their own right back in the 90s.
Mutchnick created the hit shows ‘Will and Grace’ and ‘Boston Common’; ‘Will and Grace’ is currently in its ninth season on NBC.
Photo credit: Google Maps
