720 S Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, FL 33480

Significance

El Solano is attributed to Addison Mizner, with the sources reviewed splitting between a 1919 date and a 1925 construction date; one account reconciles the two by stating the house was designed in 1919 and constructed in 1925. A listing description carried into secondary coverage reports that Mizner built the house for himself and then sold it to the yacht racer Harold S. Vanderbilt; that claim is medium confidence and was not independently verified. The house entered wider public record in January 1980, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono purchased it for $725,000, and it received Town landmark designation the same year. A Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach exhibit on the provenance of historic architectural elements references 300 year old paneling at El Solano. The builder is not identified in the sources reviewed.

Documented timeline

1. 1919 or 1925

   Built to a Mizner design

   Most press gives 1919; the county parcel record gives 1925. One source states the house was designed in 1919 and constructed in 1925.[1][2][7]

2. 1980

   John Lennon and Yoko Ono purchase

   In January 1980 John Lennon and Yoko Ono bought the property for $725,000.[1][2][3]

3. 1980

   Death of John Lennon

   John Lennon was killed in New York City in December 1980, 11 months after the purchase.[2][3]

4. 1980

   Town of Palm Beach landmark designation

   The house was designated a Town of Palm Beach landmark in 1980 according to press. A separate account places the start of the Town's landmark program in 1979 and counts this house among the first designated, leaving a 1979 versus 1980 discrepancy that the sources reviewed do not resolve. The Town's own landmark list could not be retrieved.[2]

5. 1986

   Sale to Howard A. Fafard

   Yoko Ono sold the property to Howard A. Fafard for $3,150,000.[2][3]

6. 1990

   Sale to Alan and Christine Curtis

   The property sold to Alan and Christine Curtis for $4,315,000.[2]

7. 2016

   Sale to Cindy and John C. Sites Jr.

   In January 2016 the Curtises sold to Cindy and John C. Sites Jr. The price is reported two ways: $20,050,000 in the source retained here, and $23,000,000 per a secondary source, not independently verified. The two figures cannot be reconciled from the sources reviewed.[2]

8. 2020

   Listed at $47,500,000

   In May 2020 the property was listed by Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate with an asking price of $47,500,000.[4]

9. 2020

   Sale for $36,076,540

   In October 2020 the property sold for $36,076,540 to an undisclosed buyer. The deed, from Sites, John C Jr, was recorded at Book 31882, Page 1967, with title taken by an entity recorded as 720 South Ocean Boulevard Land.[3][5][6][7]

Ownership of record

As published, ownership runs from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, to Howard A. Fafard in 1986, to Alan and Christine Curtis in 1990, to Cindy and John C. Sites Jr. in 2016, and then in October 2020 to a buyer who was not disclosed and who holds through an entity recorded in the county deed chain as 720 South Ocean Boulevard Land. The parcel record shows no change of owner since that October 2020 recording. Current occupants are not identified; this dossier describes recorded and reported transactions only.

Current status

Sold October 2020 for $36,076,540; no public listing found as of September 2026.

Buyer diligence

• The property is reported as a designated Town of Palm Beach landmark, which places exterior changes under Landmarks Preservation Commission review. Confirm the designation and its conditions with the Town before assuming any exterior scope.
• The Town of Palm Beach offers an ad valorem tax exemption for qualifying rehabilitation of landmarked property. Confirm eligibility, qualifying work, and procedure directly with the Town; no figures are quoted here.
• The address sits on the ocean block. Obtain the current FEMA flood zone designation, base flood elevation, and any existing elevation certificate before underwriting insurance or renovation.
• Where a seawall, bulkhead, or revetment serves the parcel, commission an independent condition assessment and confirm maintenance responsibility and any shared obligation.
• Reconcile the 1919 and 1925 year built figures, and the 1979 versus 1980 landmark year, against Town permit and designation records rather than press accounts.
• Confirm parcel control number 50434326000020480, legal description, and the recorded deed chain with the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser and the Clerk and Comptroller.

What the record cannot show

• The identity of the buyer behind the entity recorded as 720 South Ocean Boulevard Land, or the beneficial ownership of that entity.
• Which of the two reported 2016 prices, $20,050,000 or $23,000,000, corresponds to the recorded consideration.
• The extent of interior alteration across five ownership periods, including whether original Mizner fabric and the paneling referenced by the Preservation Foundation remain in place.
• Condition, deferred maintenance, or unpermitted work that never produced a permit or code enforcement record.