Billionaire Paypal founder Peter Thiel snagged himself a $13million mansion in one of Washington, DC’s wealthiest neighborhoods that’s become home to some of the top players within Trumpworld in recent years, it was revealed on Monday.
He bought the Beaux-Arts style home in August from Trump administration Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and his wife Hilary Geary Ross, Politico reported.
The 10,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom home is in DC’s Massachusetts Avenue Heights area, where some of Thiel’s neighbors will be former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton, and George and Kellyanne Conway.
In late October the mansion next door to the Conways, linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, was raided by the FBI.
Thiel, 54, bought the home through an LLC that originally concealed his identity, although the purchase was ‘common knowledge’ to people in the area, the report stated.
At the time Salona Village Holdings bought the property. The Rosses were reportedly blocked from revealing the buyer’s name by a signed agreement. It was the priciest home sale across a 12-month period.
Like his new neighbors the tech billionaire is looking to carve out his own influence within the Republican Party.
Thiel, once described as a libertarian, donated a combined $20 million this year to the Senate campaigns of Ohio conservative and Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance and Thiel Foundation President Blake Masters in Arizona.
Paypal co-founder Thiel (left) bought the property from Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and his wife (right) in August under an LLC that obscured the German-born investor’s identity
The sprawling mansion is located in Washington, DC’s ultra wealthy Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood, where homes sell for upwards of $16 million
It sits on roughly an acre of land and boasts a pool, marble terraces and a well-manicured backyard garden
In 2016 he donated $1.5 million to pro-Trump groups and even addressed the Republican National Convention.
The German-born investor also served on Donald Trump’s transition board.
More recently, he gave about $2 million to an unsuccessful bid aimed at getting Trump-backed Kris Kobach elected to the US Senate in 2020. He also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the RNC in 2018.
Thiel biographer Max Chafkin said the billionaire’s politics are further from libertarian and ‘closer to authoritarianism.’
‘It’s super-nationalistic, it’s a longing for a sort of more powerful chief executive, or, you know, a dictator, in other words,’ Chafkin told Politico.
Beyond founding Paypal, Thiel is also known as being Mark Zuckerberg’s first outside investor in Facebook. He also co-founded Palantir Technologies, a data analytics software company.
His new home would be a glamorous meeting place for his growing number of GOP pals – in addition to having seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, the house also boasts a servant’s quarters, a 12-seat movie theater and marble terraces looking out on a well-manicured garden and Rock Creek Park.
It includes a backyard pool, formal and informal dining rooms and a caterer’s kitchen.
The three-level mansion, which closed at $13,193,600 according to Zillow, was built in 1927. It was sold to Trump’s former commerce chief for $10.75 million in 2017.
When it was owned by philanthropist Adrienne Arsht the home hosted top international figures including a former prime minister of Spain.
As of late this year the average home price in the neighboring Woodland-Normanstone area is $7.5 million, Realtor.com states. Massachusetts Avenue Heights houses range from nearly $1 million to upwards of $18 million.
With his ritzy purchase Thiel joins fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos in making DC his new home in recent years.
The Amazon founder bought the 27,000-square-foot former Textile Museum in the capital’s chic Kalorama neighborhood in 2018. He reportedly paid $23 million for the sprawling property.
The home was built in 1927 in the Beaux-Arts style that’s popular among other homes in the area
The floorplan includes formal and informal living and dining rooms (pictured is the Garden Room, according to Zillow)
It also has seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms
Amenities include a 12-seat private movie theater, servant’s quarters and 12-foot high ceilings
The home was taken off the market at a price of $13,193,600, real estate site Zillow estimates
When it was owned by philanthropist Adrienne Arsht the home hosted top international figures including a former prime minister of Spain
It’s nearby a mansion linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, which was raided by the FBI in late October this year
As of late this year the average home price in the neighboring Woodland-Normanstone area is $7.5 million, Realtor.com states
Pictured is Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s $12.6 million home in Massachusetts Avenue Heights
Mnuchin and his wife, actress and socialite Louise Linton, bought their mansion off-market in 2017
Former senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and her husband George Conway’s nearby home is worth $8 million
The Conways are just some of the wealthy Washington, DC power players living in the area