Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi Seek Sale of Iconic Villa in Beverly Hills
Buckle up. Here they go again. Property mad chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and equestrian-minded “Arrested Development” star Portia de Rossi have flipped an iconic, showbiz-pedigreed residence in the expensively fashionable Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills back on the market at almost $18 million after buying it less than seven months ago for exactly $15 million. Designed in his signature Hollywood Regency style by acclaimed architect John Elgin Woolf and built in 1962, the soignée villa was extensively refreshed several years ago by the renown architecture firm Marmol Radziner and then again, per current marketing materials, “completely restored and updated in 2019” with “all new systems/finishes.” Once home to Anne Archer’s actress mother Marjorie Lord and her third husband, banker Henry Volk, the single-level sprawler contains five bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in about 5,100 playfully theatrical and seriously sophisticated square feet.
Re-engineered for a high-tech modern lifestyle, the gated and extensively secured residence retains a trove of Woolf’s quintessential Hollywood Regency flourishes. Dramatically tall Pullman entry doors open to a glamorous circular foyer and a delicately carved antique stone fireplace lends ancient régime patina the combination living and dining room where lightly striated beige marble floor tiles extend out and beyond a full wall of glass to a deep, slightly bowed loggia with an extravagant quartet of fluted columns and spine-straightening view across a wide swathe of the L.A. basin. Each of the en suite guest bedrooms open to a private courtyard or terrace while the decadently done up marble master bathroom provides access to a serene, high-walled courtyard garden.
Related stories
'Wild Wild Country' Movie in the Works Starring Priyanka Chopra
CNN's Don Lemon Delivers Emotional Criticism of Kevin Hart's 'Ellen' Interview
Kevin Hart and Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar Conspiracy Theories Only Make Things Worse (Column)
It’s not too much of a surprise DeGeneres and de Rossi would seek to sell the house after less than a year of ownership since they’re famous in property gossip circles for buying, gussying up and selling often architecturally distinguished multi-million dollar properties with the same frequency most people change their shower curtains. And, indeed, they’ve owned literally dozens of extraordinary and extraordinarily expensive residences, primarily in and around both Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.
Last fall (2018) they cashed in on the clandestine, $35 million off-market sale of a modestly proportioned mid-century residence hidden down a long driveway along one of the more exclusive streets in Beverly Hills — they bought the property three years earlier for just under $16 million — and in the fall of 2017 they shelled out almost $7.2 million for an historic equestrian ranch that borders Oprah Winfrey’s Promised Land estate in Montecito that they quickly and lucratively unloaded in the spring of 2018 for $11 million to Tinder founder Sean Rad.
Also in the fall of 2017, nearly a year before they sold a 13-plus acre compound in Montecito for $34 million to Netflix honcho Ted Sarandos, they plunked down $18.6 million for a contemporary beachfront estate in Carpinteria and earlier this year they shelled out a purse clutching $27 million for a 8.25-acre Balinese inspired compound in Montecito that’s only about a two-minute drive from an historic, ten-ish acre ranch property they surreptitiously snatched up over the summer of 2018 for $6.7 million.
Presumably the couple, married in 2008 in the backyard of a Beverly Hills mansion they bought in 2007 for a bit below $30 million from “Will and Grace” co-creator Max Mutchnick and sold to entertainment industry mogul Ryan Seacrest in 2012 for $36.5 million, has already set their real estate and design savvy sights on their next project or projects. Stay tuned.
Listing photos: Westside Estate Agency
Launch Gallery: Ellen DeGeneres Lists Iconic Trousdale Estates Hollywood Regency Villa
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
