Real estate is constantly being updated, and now it is the turn for Brad Pitt: he once said that “whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion”. Although he is about to lose his French estate, after the divorce with Angelina Jolie, he’s also investing in new options not to let his real estate portfolio to weaken. His latest bet has been for a historic mansion in Carmel Highlands, California and is also known as the D.L. James House.
The legendary actor, know for movies like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Snatch, or Inglourious Basterds, forked $40 million for this jaw-dropping property. This amount makes it one of the most valuable houses in the Carmel Highlands, and in addition to an unbelievable price, it is a house that maintains a great history within the Carmel Highlands. U.S. real estate, with a building dating back from 1918, once owned by businessman DL James and later inhabited by his son, the famous and controversial writer Daniel Lewis James.
A California mansion that emulates a medieval castle in the United States
The mansion is placed atop the cliffs of Carmel Highlands and is based on a Mediterranean style construction made of sandstone and which retains the signature of the famous Arts and Crafts architect Charles Sumner Greene. He intended the property to be a faithful copy of the historical Tintagel castle in Cornwall, England. A fortress of medieval origin marked by the history of King Arthur, according to the legends.
A mansion is cataloged as a unique monument of its kind in the United States, and that’s because of the composition based in arched windows and tiled roofs, able to reflect a strong Mediterranean influence.
Preserving a great slice of Californian history, inside and outside its walls, where materials such as sandstone and granite extracted from the cliffs themselves, the mansion stand in the whole region. It’s also possible to assure that in many places it is impossible to recognize where the construction ends and where the natural cliff begins.
The high price of housing is perfectly related to history It is also known for its walls because of important figures such as Chicago Research and Trading, a company involved with Joe Ritchie, and also because the famous brothers Charles and Henry Sumner Greene, the same creators and promoters of the Arts and Crafts style, were in charge of its design.
History and luxury worthy of Oscar-winner Brad Pitt
A glance inside the property is enough to be perfect transport to the past, the abundant marble motifs also stand out in its interior and that evidently has been used to carve animal figures, although it has been difficult to get accurate photos of the interior of the mansion. The house has a single-story layout and since there are no photographs, it is impossible to determine the precise location of its interior spaces.
The truth is that its interior features excellent carpentry details, with an open-air patio and a living room that is planned and built to be open plan. But the history of mystery and secrecy about this mansion does not stop and in 2001 an attempt was made to build a tunnel to communicate the house directly with the rocky beach below it.
That strategy was intended to replace a staircase that had been ripped from its foundation by the tide, and although the county planning commission approved the construction, the coastal commission objected at some point during construction. So only Brad Pitt will know for sure if this tunnel was built or not, undoubtedly a real estate property full of history, luxury and unique architecture in its style.