Apollo Education Group ex-Chairman and CallWave co-founder Peter Sperling passed his Montecito estate on to a new buyer. The property changed hands for $19.1 million back in the spring, according to The Daily Mail, making it the third of Sperling’s West Coast residential properties to sell in the past few years.
The first of Sperling’s homes to find a new owner was his Bay Area home; the 1900-built, 8,850 sq. ft. mansion in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood sold for $13.8 million in the summer of 2019. That same summer, he put his estate in Los Angeles’s Holmby Hills neighborhood up for sale for $21 million, ultimately passing it on about a year later for $16.5 million.
This latest property dates to 1999. The 5.56-acre estate is anchored by a seven-bedroom villa with architecture that is nearer to English countryside in inspiration than Spanish, but the property as a whole carries the Mediterranean-evoking atmosphere that’s come to be known as the Montecito Style. A lengthy swath of lawn defines the back 40, dwarfing the pool and patio; the spot is surrounded by semi-forest, lending the place the secluded and borderline fantastical overtones that make the lifestyle of this corner of Southern California so desirable.
The house’s exterior features a wraparound porch. Inside house, details accumulate into a European amalgam, with French-style fireplaces, stone tile floors, arched doorways, candelabra chandeliers, and a French country estate kitchen with a La Cornue range. Amenities include a detached gym and a cabana; a pair of guest cottages brings the property’s total square footage to 16,668 sq. ft.
Oh, and, the neighbors happen to be Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; they staked their claim to Montecito living last year in exchange for $14.7 million.
Sperling’s net worth is $1.6 billion, according to Forbes.