Nixon’s Western White House Is Listed for $75 Million

Posted on by Listify Me

President Nixon’s home will soon hit the market for $75 million. The Nixons called it La Casa Pacifica.

A living room with expansive ocean views. The 5.5-acre property includes 450 feet of oceanfront.

The estate is currently owned by Gavin Herbert, founder and retired CEO of pharmaceutical company Allergan. He has a long history with the property.

Mr. Herbert purchased the property in 1980, after having previously worked as the volunteer head gardener at the estate during the president’s ownership.

The property includes 15,000 square feet of living space spread across a main house, guesthouses and staff quarters. The main house is roughly 9,000 square feet.

About 15 years ago, Mr. Herbert remodeled much of the home, in keeping with the original Spanish Colonial style. He rebuilt about 30% of the home and put in a basement. The master suite was expanded to add a bathroom and his-and-hers closets.br

The property was originally built in the 1920s by architect Carl Lindbom for Hamilton Cotton, a wealthy local businessman and one of the early developers of San Clemente, Calif.

Mr. Herbert added an octagonal entertainment pavilion to the estate, near the swimming pool, about 25 years ago.

Mr. Nixon added the swimming pool, and often hosted dignitaries at poolside meetings. Mr. Herbert says Henry Kissinger recently told him Mr. Nixon asked him to be secretary of state while they were swimming.

The property also includes a tennis court.

The main house is built around a large central courtyard. The stairs once led to the president’s office.

Mr. Nixon worked in an office just above the courtyard. He added a fireplace.

The home’s dining room overlooks the courtyard and gardens.

The property includes expansive vegetable and flower gardens.

Selling it ‘has been a very hard decision,’ says Mr. Herbert, who is 83. He and his wife, Nanette, also own a home in Newport Beach.

President Richard Nixon reading newspapers poolside, circa 1969-1974.

In 1973, the president met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in the library of the San Clemente home.

Singer Frank Sinatra was greeted at the so-called Western White House in 1972 by the president.

Mr. and Mrs. Nixon, center, in a 1970 photo with California Sen. George Murphy, right, and then-Gov. Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy.

Mr. Nixon speaks with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (back to camera), and his date, actress Jill St. John, as well as Mr. Brezhnev, left, in 1973.

Mr. and Mrs. Nixon in the living room of La Casa Pacifica, circa 1969-1974.

An aerial image of La Casa Pacifica taken in the 1970s. The government added several small, closed gazebos for secret service and other security during Nixon’s era. One such hut remains today, near a garden.

For Gavin Herbert, the retired founder and CEO of Allergan—the nearly $70 billion pharmaceuticals company—it was a lifelong love of gardening that led to his ownership of one of Southern California’s most storied and valuable coastal properties: President Richard Nixon’s so-called Western White House.

Now, it will hit the market for $75 million. Mr. Herbert, 83, is selling the estate after 35 years of ownership and is looking for a buyer who will continue to care for the property. The 5.5-acre estate in San Clemente, Calif., has more than 15,000 square feet of living space over a main house, guesthouses and staff quarters, and 450 feet of ocean frontage.

The property was owned by the president from 1969 to 1980.
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Listing agent Rob Giem, of HÔM Sotheby’s International Realty, says the high price tag is justified, even aside from the property’s provenance, as it is the largest stretch of available residential oceanfront south of Los Angeles. Prices for vacant waterfront lots in Orange County typically sell for $5 million to $10 million for a quarter-acre, he says. “It’s one of a kind,” he adds.

In 1969, six months into his presidency, Mr. Nixon and some business partners bought the property, then 26 acres, for $1.4 million from the widow of original owner, Hamilton Cotton, according to reports from the time. He dubbed it La Casa Pacifica.


At the time, Mr. Herbert—who had founded Allergan nearly 20 years earlier—was the finance chairman for the president’s Orange County re-election campaign. A longtime gardening enthusiast, he was also the co-owner of a garden center in Newport beach, where his family lived.

Introduced to Mr. Nixon’s property by H.R. Haldeman, Nixon’s chief of staff, Mr. Herbert soon volunteered for the role of head gardener on the property—despite his busy career.

Then-Gov. Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, left, visited the Nixons in 1970. California Sen. George Murphy is on right.
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“In the pharmaceutical business, new products take 10 years to develop,” says Mr. Herbert. “In gardening, you get instant gratification.”

He stayed on in his gardener’s role even after taking his company public in the 1970s.

The tranquil lot overlooks a popular surfing beach. It has flower and vegetable gardens, neatly trimmed hedges, and palm and cypress trees.

The home is designed in a Spanish Colonial style—white stucco and red-tile roof, and living spaces around a central courtyard with a fountain. An outside staircase leads to an office with a fireplace that Mr. Nixon added. The dining room overlooks the home’s ornamental and English gardens on the opposite side.

A living room in the roughly 9,000-square-foot main house has ocean views.
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The main residence was designed in the 1920s by Carl Lindbom for Mr. Cotton, a wealthy local businessman, who was inspired by the mayor’s residence in San Sebastian, Spain. The inside has tiled and wood floors and wood-beamed ceilings; large arched windows overlook the ocean.

The Nixons used the home for family retreats and strategic meetings, hosting guests such as Henry Kissinger and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Mr. Herbert says Mr. Kissinger told him Mr. Nixon asked him to be secretary of state while they were swimming in the property’s pool, which the president had added.

Nixon, a Southern California native, retreated to the home after his resignation in 1974, following the Watergate scandal, and wrote his memoir there. He sold the estate to Mr. Herbert, and partners, in 1980 in a private sale. Mr. Herbert declines to give the price, and it couldn’t be learned in public records. Mr. Herbert and his partners developed the property into a gated subdivision with 14 other homes. Mr. Nixon died in 1994 in New York City.

The 5.5-acre estate has 450 feet of waterfront.
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For about a decade after buying La Casa Pacifica, Mr. Herbert lived primarily in Newport Beach. He still has a home there that he shares with his wife, Ninetta. Between the two, they have five children, 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Several of their children and grandchildren have been married at the property.

About 25 years ago, Mr. Herbert added an octagonal poolside pavilion, and decorated it with photos of visiting dignitaries. More recently, he remodeled the main house, rebuilding about 30% and putting in a basement. The master suite was expanded to include a bath and closets. He also replaced a living-room fireplace and donated the original to the Nixon library.

Selling it “has been a very hard decision,” says Mr. Herbert. “I think [my wife and I] felt we were caretakers. We care a lot about who the next caretakers would be.”

Corrections Amplifications:
Mr. Herbert’s wife is Ninetta. An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified her as Nanette.