Oil Heiress Aileen Getty Buys James Valentine’s Midcentury Modern

By James McClain

When Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine put his glossy midcentury modern residence — provocatively and aptly known as the Steel House — on the market in September, the steel-and-glass pavilion generated widespread publicity, with real estate publications nationwide fawning over the sleekly restored showplace. Qualified buyers flocked to the residence, which subsequently quickly sold in just one month for $4.1 million, a whopping $315,000 more than the asking price and nearly double what Valentine paid for the property back in 2006.

The winning bidder, records reveal, is Getty oil heiress Aileen Getty, a longtime property gossip column staple and former junkie turned activist and philanthropist. Born into privilege as the granddaughter of industrialist J. Paul Getty — the world’s onetime richest man — the longtime L.A. resident has been outspoken about her battles with drug addiction, anorexia and self-mutilation as a young woman, and the resultant wild lifestyle that led to her contracting HIV in the mid-1980s.

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