[3] Jay Paley and his brother Samuel were Jewish Russian immigrants who had founded the Congress Cigar Company, manufacturers of the La Palina brand, in Chicago in the 1890s.

Paley and his wife Lilian moved to Los Angeles, and the house was commissioned.

[6] The house, retaining the pool & tennis court, sold for $475,000 (equivalent to $4,843,096 in 2023)[3] to Barron Hilton.

The Hilton family sold the estate in May 2021 to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt for $61.5 million.

[4] The northwest and southwest wings and center are extended to form an E-configuration from the flat facade.

[5] Writing in The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills, Jeffrey Hyland felt that the house marked a 'new direction' for Williams as "He started with the traditional English Georgian style and then gave the residence a thoroughly modernist spirit, creating a residence that was both traditional and contemporary".

The success of the swimming complex convinced Paley to commission the main house from Williams.