With roles in ‘60s barnburners like Bullitt, The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape, Steve McQueen made a name for himself as an effortless anti-hero, landing him the tabloid moniker “The King of Cool.” Now one lucky buyer will have a chance to absorb a little bit of the Academy Award-nominee’s cred. McQueen’s contemporary getaway in Palm Springs has just hit the market for a remarkably reasonable $2.5 million.
Designed by Mid-Century Modern legend Hugh Kaptur, the home’s exterior is a boxy, desert-schemed number with a lowered, three-space carport accessible by an elongated covered walk. The home’s two steel-framed glass boxes are joined in an L-shape, surrounded by a pebbled terrace and a rectangular swimming pool for an austerely masculine look.
The glass walls offer stunning views of the desert valley and surrounding mountains, while dramatic cypress paneling, a sleek floating staircase and a contemporary fireplace straddle the line between Bauhaus modern and hunting cabin styling. One of the home’s key features is the three-dimensional, mudcloth-inspired carpet transversing the sunroom and butting up against the living room’s raised concrete floor.
At 4,500 square feet, the home includes four bedrooms, two full and three partial baths and a lushly landscaped exterior full of mature trees.
With the success of The Getaway and The Towering Inferno in the early ‘70s, McQueen became the highest paid actor in the world, at which point he disappeared from the public eye for a number of years to focus on racing and traveling the country on his vintage Indian motorcycle collection. A rebel to the very end, he died at the age of 50 from mesothelioma, a likely product of massive asbestos exposure during his time in the Marines.