He sold a startup to Xerox and built his own personal Versailles. Now the billionaire may break a record selling it.
- Tech billionaire Darwin Deason has spent about $86 million creating his own personal Versailles.
- It took years to finish the Sand Castle, his Pacific Ocean-front estate in La Jolla, California.
Darwin Deason is poised to break a record.
The tech billionaire has listed his opulent estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, California, for $108 million.
If it sells for even close to that price, it will more than double the San Diego County record, set by private-equity billionaire Egon Durban, who spent $44.1 million on a property in 2023.
In 2009, after Deason sold his company, Affiliated Computer Services, to Xerox for $6.4 billion, he spent about $26 million on the house and a neighboring parcel of land, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the listing.
Over about six years, the Journal said, Deason spent about $60 million turning the lots into a sandy-colored, balcony-laden 13,000-square-foot mansion.
The billionaire was inspired by the French Palace of Versailles and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a five-star hotel in the South of France that is a favorite of celebrities. The house's ornate details include glittering chandeliers, gold-accented ceilings, mosaics, marble floors, and antique statues.
Deason mainly uses the 10-bedroom property, located at 1900 Spindrift Drive and dubbed the Sand Castle, as a vacation retreat. Based in Dallas, he has other vacation homes in Texas and Mexico, as well as a yacht. Deason, 84, is worth $1.3 billion as of October 23 and has three children, according to Forbes.
"In the history of La Jolla, there has never been and will never be another property built on the waterfront like the Sand Castle," listing agents Brett Dickinson and Ross Clark, of Compass, told Business Insider via email.
Take a look inside.
The property contains a seven-bedroom main House and a three-bedroom guest house inspired by Versailles’ Le Petit Trianon.
The main house has a two-story entry hall, a wraparound terrace, and an oval-shaped dining room that seats 16 under a 19th-century crystal chandelier.
Fireplaces throughout the main house were imported from France.
Throughout the home are custom mosaics by New Ravenna, a Virginia tile maker that is among the top in the country.
There are 10 bedrooms. The primary bedroom suite features its own oceanfront terrace, private study, and separate his-and-her bathrooms.
Nearly every piece of furniture in the home was custom-made.
There are 18- and 24-karat gold details throughout the mansion, which has 14 full bathrooms and three half-bathrooms.
A nautical-themed bar is a nod to Deason's yacht, Apogee, according to the New York Post.
The bar has walnut finishings, onyx marble, and 18th-century mermaid statues.
The mansion also has a pool and a fitness center.
The pool is lined with blue Thassos marble tiles, according to Bloomberg.
The mansion has two cabanas: one for men and one for women.
The Sand Castle house also has a beachfront kitchen.
An elevator whisks residents and guests down to the private beach, which is elevated 10 feet above the ground.
For the private beach, Deason imported soft white sand from Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts the Masters tournament each year. He told the Journal he spent $40,000 on the sand alone.
The listing agents said that the Sand Castle's custom sea wall and direct beach access could not be replicated today given the current state building standards.
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