Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have listed their Santa Barbara home for sale. The couple is asking $45 million for the property, which is comprised of three parcels purchased in two 2013 transactions totaling $28.8 million.
Dating to the 1930’s, the rustic house measures 10,500 square feet, and contains six bedrooms and eight full or partial baths. The sandstone and raw timber home features a rambling layout around a center courtyard.
It’s a substantial look, and it doesn’t ever pass into the vague indecision of many higher end period residences that have been renovated; it achieves a strong sense of authenticity by never really appearing to question its identity. Modernizations and elements of cross-cultural layering are nicely incorporated, and do not topple the composition.
DeGeneres has suggested that the house seems to be an expression of its landscape, and that’s pretty accurate. It doesn’t impose, and it does not dominate; a neat trick for a home built from rusticated stone. And, even though the home is the product of a very assertive European design aesthetic located in Southern California, it doesn’t feel contrived. Part of that effect is the countryside of Montecito, which perhaps more than any other SoCal locale resembles the Riviera.
The house features nine fireplaces, libraries and reading rooms. Ceilings are vaulted, sometimes open trussed, and floors are generally tile or stone. Windows and French doors are pleasingly plain, steel-framed affairs, and do not distract from the overall style. The overall look is heavy-handed, packed to bursting with charming detail, but it never comes off as ponderous. Frequently, skylights lend a little liberation to the proceedings, and balance things out nicely with a dash of the ethereal.
The nearly seventeen acres of grounds are filled with gardens and quiet alcoves. An additional pavilion structure was constructed by the couple, and features a wet bar and catering kitchen, and entertaining space under a high vaulted ceiling.
DeGeneres—a legendarily restless house-hunter—and spouse de Rossi have owned several homes in their time together: buying, renovating and selling. The couple’s latest real-estate acquisition may lead them to Australia, de Rossi’s home country.
