Tobey Maguire’s new leaf is a large house. The star of Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider Man’ films, newly legally split from wife Jennifer Meyer, paid $13 million for this newly constructed spec-home in Brentwood Park.
The house features six bedrooms, 7.5 baths, and three stories. It also features brick chimneys, pale oak floors, and a plain, pragmatic-minded interior reminiscent of New England sensibilities. The overall design of the house, incidentally, is more than vaguely northeast farmhouse; in the context of a recent Southern California build, the style might ring a few bells with those familiar with the work of Nathanael West. Think Amish couture. Or Yankee hipster.
Yet, charming, if over-engineered. There is plenty of glass, and the window design is pleasingly unadorned, purely functional and quite beautiful. The living-room boasts a bright, expansive feel with its vaulted ceiling, and the black marble fireplace is nicely understated; the master suite is a continuation of the pattern, with an identical fireplace, a vaulted ceiling with exposed beams, and a bright bath with soaking tub. There is a family room with a brick fireplace (brick had to be represented somewhere, in the comprehensive vision), and a dining room with walls comfortingly dressed in flat cobalt. The azure kitchen island lends the home a dollop of arts-and-crafts influence. In the basement a wet bar, theater, gym, wine cellar, and maid’s quarters are hidden away. The property, which measures in at a tight .38 acres, makes best use of available space, with a small terrace, and small pool.
Maguire began his career in his teens, before establishing himself as the suburban boy-next-door dreamer in 1997’s Ang Lee directed ‘The Ice Storm,’ and 1998’s gentle satire ‘Pleasantville’; most effectively, he played a lead character loosely based on novelist Michael Chabon in 2000’s ‘Wonderboys.’ The latter film placed him across from Michael Douglas, the former Kevin Kline. He is best known, though, as morally well-adjusted arachnophile Peter Parker, perhaps the most compelling version of the reluctant superhero portrayed in modern film since Burton cast Keaton for ‘Batman.’
