Member of prominent Rothschild family found dead after Laurel Canyon house fire, neighbors say

A man found dead after his Laurel Canyon house was badly damaged in a fire Wednesday afternoon was a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family, neighbors said.

The body discovered at the Lookout Mountain Avenue property was that of William Rothschild, three people told The Times on Thursday. A magazine seen at the property was addressed to “WM DE ROTHSCHILD.”

The Rothschilds, a sprawling Jewish family originally from Frankfurt, Germany, long dominated European banking, with its English and French branches playing major roles in finance and politics, most notably during the 18th and 19th centuries. At one point, the Rothschilds were widely considered to have amassed the largest private fortune on Earth.

Today, the family is spread across the globe and maintains interests in financial services, energy, real estate and other sectors, while several of its prominent members have become high society and philanthropic fixtures in London, Paris and beyond. The Rothschild fortune, now divided among many heirs, is said to be worth billions of dollars.

The burned-out residence, described by a real estate listing service as an 825-square-foot, two-bedroom property worth about $1 million, seemingly had little of the opulence befitting a descendant of the world’s most powerful bankers. The Hollywood Hills home was bedraggled and sooty a day after the blaze, which, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, was put out by 45 firefighters in a little more than 30 minutes around 5 p.m.

Video of the conflagration, shared by a neighbor who requested anonymity over privacy concerns, showed flames in several places along the front of the brick and stucco structure, which is perched above street level and accessed by a long set of tiled stairs. As the blaze unfolded, the resident said, she saw “huge flames” and heard “glass shattering” — and watched as another neighbor held a hose and monitored the fire’s progress. The woman, who didn’t know Rothschild, had quickly called 911.

Another neighbor, Dana Gladstone, said he was at home during the incident but didn’t see the fire. Still, he said he heard a woman say, “Oh my God, that’s awful!”

“She was probably given the news that he passed,” said Gladstone, who has long lived on the street.

Voter registration records show that William A. De Rothschild, listed as 87, has resided at the burned house. Another database shows a 77-year-old man with a similar name owning the property. The deceased man will be formally identified and his cause of death determined by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

The office did not respond to requests seeking comment. A woman whose name appears in the records for the Lookout Mountain house also did not return a telephone call seeking comment. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Fire Department.

The scent of smoke hung in the air Thursday as passersby stopped to take in the scene and neighbors tried to make sense of the incident. Gladstone said Rothschild was in his late 70s and devoted to his dog, an Afghan hound. He was a friendly man who described himself as a graduate of Yale University, Gladstone said.

“The guy was attached to his dog,” said Gladstone. “I knew him as Will.”

A portion of the home, located near Wonderland Avenue Elementary School and built in 1937, was smoldering Thursday morning, prompting a neighbor to call the authorities. Within minutes, firefighters arrived on the scene and extinguished what one of them said was a decorative piece of wood.

Rothschild, neighbors said, maintained a vintage car collection, storing some at his house and others up the street at another property that was ornamented with busts of great thinkers including Raphael and Michelangelo — and several security cameras. Two people said his holdings included a red Porsche that had once been owned by Michael Jordan.

The basketball superstar has owned several Porsche 911s over the years, including a red one that sold at auction last year for $500,000, according to reports.

The Fire Department said no other injuries were reported. But one neighbor said that Rothschild’s dog hadn’t been seen since the incident.

Times researcher James Kim contributed to this report.