For sale: A luxurious Spanish colonial mansion along the Pacific Ocean that was once nicknamed the “Western White House,” home to one of the most scandalized presidents in American history.
Richard Nixon’s former presidential retreat in San Clemente, Calif., is back on the market for $57.5 million, a nearly $7 million discount from its most recent asking price last year, and a 23% discount from its original price of $75 million four years ago.
There were no takers when the Southern California property, situated between Los Angeles and San Diego, was first listed at $75 million in 2015 and taken off the market later that year. The property was then priced at $69 million, and, as recently as last year at $63.5 million, before it was taken off the market again about six months ago.
The current price listing was posted about a month ago.
Nixon bought the estate on a secluded coastal bluff at the southern end of San Clemente in 1969. He dubbed the property La Casa Pacifica. The site has a 9,000-square-foot mansion with seven bedrooms, a 3,000-square-foot poolside entertaining pavilion with guest wing, a two-bedroom guest house, and a swimming pool with ocean views.
During his presidency, Nixon and then-First Lady Pat Nixon hosted many heads of state there, including the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party Leonid Brezhnev. Nixon and Brezhnev signed the Soviet-American communique there in 1973.
Nixon also held fundraising events at the San Clemente home, inviting luminaries like Ronald Reagan and Frank Sinatra, according to the website, Mansion Globa l. The location is adjacent to Camp Pendleton Marine Base, offering convenient access to Air Force One and additional security.
However, the property’s political ties date back decades before Nixon’s purchase. Hamilton Cotton, a financial partner of San Clemente founder Ole Hanson, built the home in 1926, according to reports. Cotton was a Democratic Party supporter who entertained President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is believed that they played poker on the site.
Nixon also wrote his memoirs at the home, several years after resigning from the presidency following the Watergate scandal. He eventually sold the property in the mid-1980s to current owner Allergan Pharmaceuticals chief executive Gavin S. Herbert.
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