Bing Crosby’s Estate — That Once Welcomed JFK and Marilyn Monroe — Sells for $4.15 Million

The crooner's former Rancho Mirage estate is a true legacy from the Golden Age of Hollywood. But that didn't make it an easy sell, as the property bounced on and off the market for the past 10 years.

Georgie Mihaila
7 Min Read
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim, inset CBS Radio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Bing Crosby’s house in Rancho Mirage, Calif. has finally found its new owners.

The midcentury modern home built in the 1950s by one of America’s most popular entertainers of all time has been bouncing on and off the market for the past decade.

Most famous for hosting Crosby’s many illustrious guests (and rumored to be the place where JFK and Marilyn Monroe’s romance blossomed), the celebrity compound is located in Rancho Mirage’s Thunderbird Heights — a prestigious gated hillside community adjacent to Thunderbird Country Club.

In fact, just a few years back former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were also looking at buying real estate in the area.

Bing Crosby’s estate was last listed in December 2021 with new representation (David Emerson and Alexandra Trejo of Compass held the listing).

The property sold for $4.15 million, a price point that makes it the highest sale per the MLS in Thunderbird Heights.

aerial view of Bing Crosby's former estate in Rancho Mirage
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim

According to our sources, the lucky buyer is tech entrepreneur Garret Gray, founder of Next Gear Solutions, a provider of digital workflow platforms and solutions for the property restoration industry. Gray’s company was recently acquired by property data giant, CoreLogic. Fred Dapp of The Agency represented the buyers in the transaction.

A legacy estate from the Golden Age of Hollywood

The Palm Springs area was a crazy popular celeb destination in the 1950s and ’60s. Frank Sinatra had his own place in Rancho Mirage, with Dean Martin and Marilyn Monroe each having vacation homes in nearby Palm Springs.

Other notable celebrities of the times like Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez all had homes nearby.

So there’s no surprise that the mid-century home built for Bing Crosby and his second wife, Kathryn Grant — shortly after their marriage in 1957 — was set in Rancho Mirage.

exterior view of Bing Crosby's house from the backyard
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim
pool and fire pits outside the former bing crosby estate
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim

The Thunderbird Heights house which became home to the Crosbys had been designed to accommodate guests and parties as extravagant and entertaining as its owner — America’s first multimedia superstar, who at the time was the first celebrity to lead the charts in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses alike.

The home’s most famous guests, though, were definitely Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy.

As the story goes — according to Monroe’s biographer — the two stayed at Crosby’s house at the same time, with many speculating that this is the place where their rumored love connection may have blossomed.

In honor of their stay here, the two-bedroom attached casita has been named the JFK Wing.

Inside the JFK wing of the Crosby estate.
Inside the JFK wing of the Crosby estate. Photo credit: Kris Magenheim

We first covered the property at the beginning of 2019, when it was listed for $5 million, with Linda Taglianetti, Fredrik Eklund, and Gail Vasquez of Douglas Elliman.

By May 2020, the celebrity home was taken off the market, failing to attract a buyer even after a series of price cuts.

In fact, seller Robert Teller told the Wall Street Journal (paid content) that he first listed the property in 2010, and a few more times in the following decade, but he “hasn’t sold it yet because he hasn’t received an offer he feels represents its value“.

By December 2021, the estate had been relisted with new representation, with Compass’ David Emerson and Alejandra Trejo in charge of finding the right buyer.

Taking a tour of Bing Crosby’s former home

Crosby only lived at the Rancho Mirage home for a few years, before he moved to another house he had built in nearby Palm Desert.

But the property retains quite a few elements from its past celebrity owner who loved to live large.

That includes expansive indoor and outdoor living areas with sliding glass doors that completely recess into the walls, a theater room with projector, and a huge living room with stone fireplace.

Spread on 1.36 acres of land, the former celebrity home comes with approximately 6,700 square feet of living space that extend into the outdoor areas.

pool and backyard of the Crosby estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim
pool and backyard of the Crosby estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim
pool and backyard of the Crosby estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim

The stylish residence beautifully blends art and architecture in a mid-century design with a nice Moroccan theme.

Set in the Thunderbird Heights community of Rancho Mirage, in the immediate vicinity of Palm Springs, the estate comes with great views of the Coachella Valley.

Among its most striking features, Bing Crosby’s former home lists a large living room with a stone fireplace and bar, a chef’s kitchen, movie theater, a beautiful and spacious 1,400-sq. foot master suite with a stunner of a walk-in closet and a fireplace, and four additional en-suite bedrooms.

living room with fireplace inside Bing Crosby's former home
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim
home bar inside Bing Crosby's former estate
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim
living room with pool table inside Bing Crosby's former home
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim
kitchen and dining room inside Bing Crosby's former home
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim
living room with patio access inside Bing Crosby's former home
Photo credit: Kris Magenheim

*This article was last on February 23, 2022 to reflect the status of the property after the sale. A first version of this article was published on February 2019.

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With a decade-long career as a digital content creator, Georgie started out as a real estate journalist for Multi-Housing News & CPExecutive. She later transitioned into digital marketing, working with leading real estate websites like PropertyShark, RENTCafé and Point2Homes. After a brief but impactful stint in the start-up world, where she led the marketing divisions of fintech company NestReady and media publisher Goalcast, Georgie returned to her first passion, real estate, and founded FancyPantsHomes.com