In March 2023, cosmetics billionaire William P. Lauder paid $155 million for the longtime oceanfront estate of the late radio host Rush Limbaugh, setting a then-record for Florida’s Palm Beach. The roughly 24,000-square-foot main house, built in the early 1990s, had a grand salon modeled after Versailles and a library styled after one at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., complete with carved cherubs on the ceiling. By July, Lauder had demolished it. The destruction of the Limbaugh house is one of the most extreme examples of a trend playing out in wealthy enclaves across the country: the $100 million-plus…

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