In October of 2015, actor Tom Cruise sold his Hollywood Hills West estate to actor Eva Longoria. The selling price was $11.4 million, a substantial price for a substantial property: grounds extending to nearly three acres, crowned by an 11,000-square-foot mansion designed in the Mediterranean style and constructed in the mid-1990s.
A little more than two years later, Longoria bought big in Beverly Crest—shelling out $13.5 million for a thoroughgoing contemporary Mediterranean—and listed the Hollywood Hills West estate for $14 million. It did not connect with the right buyer, though, so it received a series of price cuts that launched in June of 2018. But sold it did, in May of 2020, for $8.3 million; the buyer was St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr.
The gated property begins with a romantically lengthy drive. The main house dates to the late 1930s, and features varied Mediterranean architecture with a great deal of rusticity; materials include raw timber, stone, plaster, and tile. There is a guest home on the grounds as well, and between the two structures there are seven bedrooms and seven baths. The guest house boasts stone construction and a slate roof.
The grounds are fairly magical, with expansive patios and terraces overlooking the city, wooded landscaping, stone walls, and a large natural-look pool that extends beneath a footbridge.
Dewitt Jr. bought the Cardinals in 1995 for $150 million. The team’s current valuation is north of $2 billion.