Table Of Content
- Brad Pitt says he’s been in love with new Carmel home since the 1990s
- Brad Pitt’s home in Carmel, the historic D.L. James house
- Record deals and tax-avoidance maneuvers: Southern California’s priciest sales of 2023
- The Home’s Original Owner was Related to Outlaw Jesse James, Whom Pitt Famously Played
- Is Brad Pitt Helping Carmel, California, Make a Comeback?
- The actor and architecture aficionado has invested in a picturesque property located in the Carmel Highlands.

After he and his wife died, Seaward went to their son Daniel James. Daniel was an award-winning author, who wrote both plays and novels. He made Seaward his permanent home in the early 1960s and lived there until his death in 1988. During a press event for his movie “Bullet Train” in August, Pitt told “Extra TV” that he purchased Seaward after many years of staying on site. The Bullet Train star’s purchase offers a welcome refresh to Carmel-by-the-Sea’s long dormant position as a favorite getaway of Hollywood’s top celebrities, a mantel that has been held by Montecito, California, in recent decades.
Brad Pitt says he’s been in love with new Carmel home since the 1990s
Seaward is generally considered one of the masterworks of the California architecture firm Greene and Greene, one of the definitive cultivators of the Arts & Craft movement. The actor reportedly sold the longtime home he had owned for nearly three decades for $39 million. He had at one point referred to it as his six children’s childhood home.
Brad Pitt’s home in Carmel, the historic D.L. James house

In January, Pitt put his Los Feliz compound with its 6,692-square-foot, Craftsman-style main house on the market, even though the property had special meaning for him. Getty’s property should allow the movie star to have a more modest home base in Los Angeles while he reportedly makes his $39 million clifftop estate in Carmel Highlands his main residence. The property encompasses 2.51 acres of rugged land with multiple structures.
Record deals and tax-avoidance maneuvers: Southern California’s priciest sales of 2023
The abode is particularly notable for its use of locally sourced granite and limestone, which gives its facade a sense of timelessness, as though it’s just as fundamental a part of its environment as the rocky cliff it sits on. No matter how you slice it, it would appear that Carmel may have many more days in the sun after all. The cliffside property was previously owned since 1999 by an LLC linked to Chicago Research and Trading founder Joe Ritchie, who died earlier this year. The sale reportedly marks one of the most expensive real estate deals ever made in the Carmel area, where the former beachside home of Golden Girls star Betty White sold last April for $10.775 million, at $2.825 million over the asking price. A departure from the typical mahogany and teak wooden compositions designed by Greene and Greene, the D.L. James House, also known as the “Seaward,” was built with locally sourced sandstone and granite.
The Home’s Original Owner was Related to Outlaw Jesse James, Whom Pitt Famously Played
According to The Gamble House, which preserves the history of the architectural firm Greene & Greene, "the house’s composition, arched windows, and tiled roof reflect a Mediterranean influence." The sale marks the latest celebrity home in and around Carmel, where former mayor Clint Eastwood lived in Mission Ranch. More recently, the former home of the late Betty White sold for nearly $5 million over its $7.95 million asking price. According to The Wall Street Journal, Pitt splashed out $40 million for a historic home in the quiet cliffs of the unincorporated Carmel Highlands area (think Big Little Lies). While Pitt still owns a 50 percent stake in the French chateau Miraval, and is still believed to own his longtime home in the Los Angeles area, the new purchase adds a seaside retreat to Pitt’s property portfolio.
Brad Pitt Buys $40 Million Bachelor Pad in Carmel, California - House Beautiful
Brad Pitt Buys $40 Million Bachelor Pad in Carmel, California.
Posted: Tue, 09 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Is Brad Pitt Helping Carmel, California, Make a Comeback?
To go back even further in time, following his break up with Jennifer Aniston, Pitt bought an ocean-front beach house in Malibu in March 2005 for $8.4 million. The mid-century 4,000-square-foot home was later sold to Ellen Degeneres for $12 million in 2011. The Los Feliz estate was built by midcentury architect Neil M. Johnson in 1960 and garnered the nickname “Steel House” due to its steel-and-glass exterior. Over time, the actor bought four neighboring houses to spread his estate across almost two acres of land. The 53-year-old actor has reportedly put down $40 million for a historic home overlooking the ocean in the Carmel Highlands along California's central coast, according to public records, per the Wall Street Journal. Photos are scarce since the house never officially hit the market.
So you can count on panoramic views of dramatic sunsets in the 2,466-square-foot home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Other special features include a stone fireplace, a hand-carved front door, a built-in bar and a detached guest studio with private entrance. A property in the picturesque Carmel Highlands coastal community, an enclave popular with celebrities, is for sale for $8.8 million.
Brad Pitt says he’s been in love with new…
As a result, the imposing manse blends seamlessly with the surrounding cliffs. A Mediterranean-inspired tiled roof and arched windows enhance the exterior. Inside, local flora and fauna such as gulls, seaweed, and seashells are incorporated into carved marble details, according to Gamble House, an organization dedicated to the work of the Greene brothers. It’s no secret Brad Pitt has an affinity for architecture and design—and he's only continued to grow his real estate portfolio. A $40 million cliffside bachelor pad in Carmel, California, the town where Clint Eastwood was once mayor. James House built in 1918 and located on 2.51 acres in the Carmel Highlands along California's central coast, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The actor and architecture aficionado has invested in a picturesque property located in the Carmel Highlands.
In July 2022 the actor broke local real estate records with the purchase of a historic house with an outstanding stone structure in California’s Carmel Highlands — which he’s now turning into his primary residence. TMZ reported last month that Pitt had sold the Los Feliz estate he’s owned for almost three decades — a property he once referred to as the “childhood home” for his six children with Angelina Jolie — and was moving to Carmel. TMZ said the Oscar winner plans to move to Northern California, where he purchased “Seaward,” a historic, castle-like oceanside home in Carmel Highlands last summer. James commissioned famed architect Charles Sumner Greene to design a granite house on his land in the Carmel Highlands, high on a rocky outcropping above the Pacific. The design of the home was based on the ruins of Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, England. Greene—together with his brother Henry Mather Greene and their Pasadena architecture firm, Greene and Greene—was a towering figure in the American Arts and Crafts movement.
James House, known as 'Seaward', in a deal described as "one of the priciest ever closed in the Carmel area" by the Wall Street Journal. Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. The sale in Carmel Highlands follows another celebrity sale in the area, the former home of the late actor Betty White, which sold for $10.775 million. The $40 million deal marks one of the priciest to ever close in the Carmel area, according to local agents.
Before joining The Times as an intern in 2017, he wrote for the Columbia Missourian and Politico Europe. By closing the deal in the waning days of March, Pitt avoided the so-called “mansion tax,” which took effect on April 1, charging a 5.5% transfer tax to all L.A. At $39 million, the “Bullet Train” star avoided a $2.145-million tax bill. Pitt has purchased Getty’s three-bedroom, midcentury-modern home in Los Feliz for $5.5 million, after she bought his $33 million estate in the same Los Angeles neighborhood, the website Dirt reported this week.
Archival photos taken in 1997 captured the home's interior about 25 years before Pitt's purchase, when it featured eye-catching archways, light wood doors, long mirrors were built into the walls, marble fireplaces and other rustic fittings.
The century-old, historic granite estate (later called Seaward) sits on 2.51 acres of rugged land and consists of multiple structures. Pitt is a known enthusiast of architectural masterpieces, and once declared, “Whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion.” It’s not surprising then that the 59-year-old’s new home is a pedigreed estate sitting on a rocky cliff. Carmel Highlands will likely be his main house and a welcomed escape from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. James House after its original owner—dates to around 1918 and was designed by 20th-century architect Charles Sumner Greene, according to The Gamble House, an organization dedicated to the work of architectural firm Greene & Greene. Jack Flemming covers luxury real estate for the Los Angeles Times. A Midwestern boy at heart, he was raised in St. Louis and studied journalism at the University of Missouri.
As is only natural for an activist, Day wanted to ensure that other pet and pet owners had access to similar accommodations. So, along with the two nonprofits she had at the time, she purchased the historic Cypress West Hotel in the mid-’80s, renamed it The Cypress Inn, and promptly prioritized its conversion to a totally pet-friendly space. At the time, pet-friendly accommodations were much less than common than they are now, so this move quickly put Carmel on the map as the home of the country’s most famous pet hotel.