The real estate newswire is buzzing with news of Brad Pitt’s newest residential acquisition: a historic and dramatic promontory ‘castle’ in Carmel Highlands, California. The property came with a significant price tag — $40 million was required at closing — but the atmospherics alone are worth the price of admission.

If the sandstone pile looks not-so-vaguely mythical, well, that’s to be expected. The mystic overtones were purely intentional; as the story goes, the prominent Arts & Crafts architect Charles Greene had Middle Ages U.K. in mind as a foundational narrative. Regular readers may recall the name; Greene had a firm with his brother Henry in Pasadena, and the 1911-built Cordelia Culbertson House in that city which film director Anthony Russo put up for sale about a year ago was designed by the brothers’ business.

Pitt’s newly acquired peel dates to the late 1910s. The antiquated use of the word peel is indeed germane here, in light of the English DNA of the structure; it was inspired by and is intended to evoke Arthurian legend, and there is a profound degree of romantic mystery and chivalric resilience in its build. Best known as the D.L. James House but titled ‘Seaward’, its position overlooking the Pacific is more reflective than imperious, and the years have inflected the home with a poetic patina. But it has always looked more like a product of its landscape than an addition to it.

Pitt’s residential tastes have always strayed toward the narratively rich. Together with then-wife Jennifer Aniston, the actor spend some time as custodian of the Wallace Neff-designed Frederic March house in L.A. The ex-couple sold that home in 2006 for a reported $28 million. It last changed hands a couple of years ago for $32.5 million.

Pitt’s upcoming projects include Bullet Train, with Joey King and Sandra Bullock, and Babylon, with Margot Robbie, Flea, Olivia Wilde, and Tobey Maguire. He’s also got a few films in the works as producer: She Said, with Carey Mulligan; Women Talking, with Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, and Claire Foy; and Blonde, with Ana de Armas and Adrien Brody.

Photo credit: Google Maps