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      Rihanna’s Lavish London Mansion Just Sold for a Record $33.4 Million

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      A London mansion rented by Barbadian superstar Rihanna has just been sold for £27.5 million, or roughly $33.4 million. 

      According to Savills and Aston Chase, who were the appointed agents, the Diamonds singer’s 6,332 square-foot former rental on swanky St. John’s Wood Park was snapped up by a family from overseas for a record-breaking £3,500 (or about $4,250) per square foot. The Fenty Beauty founder lived at the palatial pad for about two and a half years when she was based in the U.K. between 2018 and 2020, reported The London Evening Standard. At the time, the multihyphenate billionaire mogul was leasing the place for a whopping £18,000 (or $21,870) per week.  

      “This sale is indicative of the surge in demand from Chinese buyers for super-prime homes in London,” explains Mark Pollack, co-founding director of Aston Chase, in a press statement. “As a result of an inability to travel during the pandemic many wealthy Chinese and Hong Kong residents are prioritizing a ‘Plan B’ in the eventuality of another unforeseen event leading to the Chinese government restricting movement.” 

      A London home once rented by Rihanna just sold for $33.4 million.

      Aston Chase/Tony Murray Photography

      The white stucco mansion, designed by renowned architect John Shaw Junior and built in 1844 by local builder William Holme Twentyman, first belonged to De Beers diamond tycoon Daniel Francis. The fully refurbished five-story home contains eight bedrooms, multiple reception rooms, a library, and an open-plan kitchen. An impressive 21-foot terrace that overlooks a sprawling rear garden. 

      A notable perk is the dwelling’s private gym, which features a weight room and exercise studio. While it’s not clear whether the new owner intends to expand the abode’s current wellness offerings, the property includes approved plans for an additional health spa with a swimming pool, a sauna, a steam room, and massage facilities. 

      The St. John’s Wood Park property features a fully equipped gym and approved plans for an extensive wellness complex.

      Aston Chase/Tony Murray Photography

      “Savills is delighted to have introduced the buyer and successfully sold this famous house on St John’s Wood Park in one of the biggest deals in St John’s Wood in 2023,” added Stephen Lindsay with Savills. “This is an extremely special house, the only one of royal architect John Shaw’s original villas on St John’s Wood Park to have survived into the 21st century. The substantial price achieved firmly underlines the value and quality of this unique trophy home and the enduring appeal of St John’s Wood with buyers from both the UK and from around the world.”

      Click here to see all the photos of Rihanna’s former London rental.

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      Robin Williams’s Italian Renaissance-Style San Francisco Mansion Can Be Yours for $25 Million

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      The same year Robin Williams starred in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 movie, Hook, he shelled out a cool $3.2 million for an Italian Renaissance-style estate in San Francisco‘s exclusive Sea Cliff neighborhood. Now, the former home of the late actor/comedian and his then-wife, Marsha Garces Williams, is on the market for a whopping $25 million. 

      The 20-room villa was originally built by architect Earle B. Bertz in 1926 for Oliver J. Olson, president of the Olson-Mahony Lumber Company. Positioned on a sprawling 17,149-square-foot corner lot on El Camino Del Mar, the elegant home has views that stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, and Marin Headlands.  

      The former San Francisco home of late actor and comedian Robin Williams is for sale.

      Open Homes

      The couple, who tied the knot in 1989, divorced two decades later in 2010. Marsha has owned the house ever since. Before they split, they put the palatial six-bed, eight-bath property through a massive reno. “Marsha and Robin Williams took the house down to the studs and rebuilt it in the early nineties, updating all the major systems,” explained Compass agent, Steven Mavromihalis, in a press statement. “They expanded the home to its current 10,598 square feet on three levels. However, they took great pains to preserve the rare and valuable building materials used in 1926, which are simply no longer available in the construction of modern homes.” 

      The estate was renovated in the late 1990s by Robin and his then-wife, Marsha Garces Williams.

      Open Homes

      Inside, you’ll find tons of period details like ornate moldings, wide plank hardwood flooring, built-in cabinetry, and exposed beams. Leaning into the character of the original design, the house is adorned with carved archways, marble columns, patterned terra cotta tiles, and wrought iron. Of course, there are quite a few surprises, too, including a movie theater with a drop-down projector, a Prohibition-era bar that’s hidden behind wood wall paneling, and a secret passageway that connects the children’s bedrooms. “It is everything you imagine Robin Williams to be,” Mavromihalis told The Wall Street Journal.  

      Views extend over the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay to the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands.

      Open Homes

      Elsewhere, a chef’s kitchen is decked out with a La Cornue Range and custom cabinets by U.K.-based Smallbone Design Studio. The primary suite—which has killer views, by the way—has a similar contemporary feel and actually features a Japanese-inspired bathroom with built-in vanities, a platform tub, and walk-in shower. Additionally, there’s a one-bed guest apartment on the garden level of the home with its own separate entrance, along with a gym, a Finnish sauna, and a wine cellar.  

      Now that the Williamses three kids are grown, Marsha is selling and downsizing. “It’s a beautiful, happy house,” she told the WSJ. “We had many, many fantastic years of fun and play and joy there.”

      Click here to see all the photos of Robin Williams’s San Francisco home.  

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      Danny McBride’s Duplex Penthouse in the Heart of Hollywood Can Be Yours for $1.8 Million

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      The year before Danny McBride’s HBO series Eastbound and Down premiered in 2009, the showbiz multihyphenate plunked down a tad more than $1.4 million for a duplex penthouse in the heart of Hollywood that he’s now got on the market for a sliver under $1.8 million. The condo, with HOA fees of almost $2,500 a month, is available with Deedee Howard of The Agency.

      McBride, who also co-created and starred in Vice Principals and the skewering comedy series The Righteous Gemstones, has had the one-bedroom, two-bath aerie on and off the sales and rental market several times in previous years, according to online records, including in 2013 when it was available to lease at $8,500 per month as well as in 2020 when it popped up for sale for $1.85 million.

      The double-height penthouse has unobstructed views of The Hollywood Sign and the Capital Records building.

      Jason Shaltz

      Perched ten floors above the corner of Hollywood and Vine within the landmark Broadway Hollywood building, the not-quite 2,200-square-foot loft-style condo has soaring, double-height ceilings and broad ribbons of windows with panoramic views of the iconic Capital Records building as well as The Hollywood Sign.

      Dark brown hardwood floors reflect the copious sunlight that pours in while also grounding the voluminous spaces that offer vast expanses of cotton-white walls ideal for artwork. Exposed ductwork nods to the classic industrial loft style. Below the lofted bedroom, the kitchen has stainless-steel cabinetry and premium-grade appliances. And beyond the kitchen, near the entrance, there’s a cozy media lounge.

      Off the kitchen and near the front door is a cozy media lounge.

      Jason Shaltz

      At the foot of the staircase, a small area is well suited as a home office, and at the top, the bedroom hovers above the living space below and looks out over the city through the massive windows. A spacious walk-in closet and an Art Deco-inspired marble bathroom complete the suite, while a second bathroom on the main floor is also decadently dressed in marble tiles. The penthouse transfers with two parking spaces with 24-hour valet service, a nice feature in a car-centric city where people have been known to drive half a block to the corner supermarket.

      The building, with a lively Katsuya sushi restaurant as its primary ground-floor retail tenant, has long been a favorite with showbiz movers and shakers. Previous owners and past tenants include Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, and Erika Jayne of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, who once maintained her “Pretty Mess” clubhouse in the building.

      The marble bathrooms evoke the glossy glamour of Old Hollywood.

      Jason Shaltz

      The building offers residents secured access via an attended lobby dripping in Old Hollywood glamour. A recently refurbished rooftop includes a swimming pool and a spa with wraparound views, along with a fitness center. The Broadway Hollywood, built in the late 1920s as the B.H. Dyas Company Department Store and converted to condos in 2005, currently falls under the Mills Act, which reduces property taxes in exchange for maintaining the historic integrity of the building. 

      McBride and his family have lived primarily in South Carolina since 2017, when they sold their Hollywood Hills home for $3.5 million and picked up a waterfront spread near Charleston for $4 million.

      Click here for more photos of Danny McBride’s Hollywood penthouse.

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      Willem Dafoe Seeks $1.3 Million for a Bucolic Getaway in Upstate New York

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      Willem Dafoe, one of Hollywood’s most versatile and accomplished actors, has put his longtime getaway in Upstate New York on the market for $1.275 million. The Hudson Valley property is listed by Christopher Pomeroy and Nancy Falcetto of Brown Harris Stevens.

      Tax records indicate the four-time Oscar nominee, whose last Oscar nom came in 2019 for At Eternity’s Gate and who appeared earlier this year in Wes Anderson’s characteristically quirky ensemble film Asteroid City, ponied up not quite $400,000 for a one-acre country estate in New York’s Hudson River Valley in 2008. About five years later, records show he shelled out another $60,000 for an undeveloped neighboring parcel of 4.7 acres.

      The densely wooded acreage, about 90 miles north of Manhattan, on the outskirts of the tiny hamlet of High Falls, where painter Marc Chagall took refuge for a few years after he fled Europe during WWII, includes a 1920s farmhouse that marries period details with contemporary accents, a vintage red barn, and a charming writer’s cabin.

      The 1920s farmhouse marries vintage details with contemporary accents.

      Chase Pierson for Brown Harris Stevens

      All but hidden behind a thicket of trees and foliage on a picturesque country lane, the carefully restored and artfully renovated three-bedroom and two-and-a-half-bath residence measures roughly 1,800 square feet, much of it outfitted with radiant heated hardwood flooring. Beyond the slender front porch, a minimalist fireplace warms the spacious living room. Sash windows provide ample light and sylvan views, while French doors swing open to a heated sunroom overlooking the backyard. 

      The up-to-date kitchen, with polished concrete countertops, two sinks, and designer appliances, is configured around a center island alongside a casual dining area. Nearby is a screened porch with a concrete floor and an oversized utility sink.

      The country estate’s three buildings are set in a grassy clearing surrounded by dense woodlands.

      Chase Pierson for Brown Harris Stevens

      Upstairs, two guest bedrooms share a bathroom fitted with a classic claw-footed tub, and the ample primary bedroom offers lots of custom closet space and a compartmentalized bathroom with a floating two-sink poured concrete vanity and a deep soaking tub set into a windowed corner.

      The property’s trio of buildings are sprinkled along the wooded edge of a sunny clearing where a rolling expanse of grass is broken by a sinuous, stacked stone wall. The red barn stands beneath the branches of a huge apple tree, and the simple writer’s cabin, the roof dotted with several skylights, is set on a high point with a view toward the house and barn.

      Records show that the Platoon star and his wife, Italian actress Giada Colagrande, also maintain a two-bedroom residence in Manhattan’s West Village that was purchased almost a decade ago for almost $3.9 million.

      Click here for more photos of Willem Dafoe’s Upstate New York home.

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      A London Townhouse Once Owned by the Manager of The Beatles Just Listed for $10.6 Million

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      Not only did Brian Epstein launch The Beatles into superstardom, he also offered up his home in London as a hideout for the Fab Four to escape their hordes of screaming fans. Fast forward to today, and the late manager’s Mayfair townhouse has hit the market for £8.75 million (or roughly $10.7 million).

      The Grade II-listed Georgian dwelling measures 3,800 square feet and features five bedrooms plus an adjoining mews house. The latter is connected to the main house through the basement and is where Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr used to hang. It’s also believed to be the place where they worked on their eighth studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

      Originally built in the 1750s, Epstein acquired the swank abode in the 1960s as his private residence. He later turned the townhouse into an early version of the Apple Corps headquarters before he died of an accidental overdose in 1967. Following Epstein’s passing, the residence was purchased by author and politician Norman St John-Stevas, Lord St John of Fawsley, a close advisor to Margaret Thatcher.

      The Beatles used to hide out and hang out in the home’s adjoining mews house.

      Wetherell

      “This Charles Street townhouse and mews was the Mayfair base of two famous showmen, firstly Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who allowed the Fab Four to use the mews as their bolthole, and later Norman St John-Stevas, one of British politics’ most colorful characters,” explains Peter Wetherell, founder and executive chairman of Wetherell, in a press statement. 

      The Charles Street townhouse dates to the 1750s.

      Wetherell

      The 18th-century pad spans six floors and was designed by master carpenter John Phillips. On the outside, you’ll find tons of period details like a slate roof, sash windows, and wrought-iron railings. Internally, the reception spaces are decked out with parquet flooring, fireplaces, plaster paneling, and gilded ceiling motifs. The various living and entertaining spaces include a drawing room, a home office, a modern kitchen, and a roof terrace. Fun fact: Lennon once tagged the kitchen tiles with graffiti, but they were later removed and sold at auction. 

      “It is extremely rare to find a Grade II listed townhouse in the heart of Mayfair that has not only retained so many wonderful traditional Georgian features but comes with its original mews house intact and several private outdoor spaces,” adds Wetherell. 

      Click here to see all the photos of Brian Epstein’s Charles Street townhouse. 

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      This Celeb-Pedigreed Los Angeles Home Is Available for the First Time in 28 Years

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      Actress Daryl Hannah and singer/songwriter Jackson Browne began dating shortly before her star-making turn as a mermaid in the 1984 rom-com fantasy film Splash. It wasn’t too long before they bought a house together, a handsome East Coast-style shingled traditional home just half a block from the beach in one of the most coveted areas of Santa Monica. They split in 1992 but didn’t sell the house until 1995 when it was purchased by late Emmy-winning TV writer-producer John Bowman and his TV writer-producer wife Shannon Gaughan.

      Bowman, a co-creator of the Martin Lawrence sitcom Martin, who also served as the head writer on In Living Color, died in 2021, and Gaughan, who was awarded an Emmy for her work on Saturday Night Live, now has their longtime family home on the market. Initially listed for $22.5 million, the price for the traditional estate now stands at $16.85 million. For those who might like to give the home a test run, it’s also available as a rental at $65,000 per month. Justin Alexander of The Alexander Group at Compass holds the listing.

      The living room has a fireplace and French doors to the backyard.

      Engel Studios

      The mid-block parcel measures more than half an acre and has three substantial structures among its mature gardens. Altogether, there are seven bedrooms and six bathrooms across 7,200 square feet. The five-bedroom main house has a center hall entry complemented by spacious formal living and dining rooms, while the eat-in kitchen is up-to-date with marble counters and the sunlight-filled fireside family room has French doors to the gardens.

      Bedrooms are sprinkled throughout the house and include a spacious second-floor primary suite with vaulted ceilings, a tile-accented fireplace, a large walk-in closet, and a tiled bathroom. Elsewhere are a home office and a hidden children’s playroom.

      High hedges ensure privacy from neighboring homes.

      Engel Studios

      The verdant, manicured grounds include a horseshoe driveway, a huge deck for dining and relaxing, a swimming pool and spa, lush lawns, a picket-fenced rose garden, and a sports court. Mature specimen trees and high hedging shield the property from neighboring homes.

      In addition to the main house, there’s a self-contained two-bedroom guesthouse with a kitchen and bath, which provides plenty of room for guests or staff, and a separate, two-story ivy-covered cottage that’s perfect for pursuing creative and/or professional endeavors.

      Click here for more photos of 226 Palisades Avenue.

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      Radio and TV Personality Bobby Bones Spins His Sprawling Nashville Home Onto the Market

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      About seven miles south of downtown Nashville, in the affluent Oak Hill neighborhood, a five-acre compound owned by veteran radio personality and reality TV regular Bobby Bones has hit the market. Initially priced at $9.25 million, the price was lickety-split dropped to $8.75 million. 

      The syndicated radio host, who has a popular iHeart radio broadcast, has over the years also appeared in a variety of roles on several reality TV programs. There was the short-lived docuseries “Breaking Bobby Bones” (2021), in which he traveled the country taking on unusual jobs; he was a full-time mentor on “American Idol” for a couple of seasons; he won the crown on the 27th season of “Dancing with the Stars”; and last year he served as the host of the reality competition series “Snake in the Grass.”

      The double-height living room, traversed by a catwalk, spills out to a terrace with a stone fireplace.

      Paul Nicol

      Records show the property last sold a bit more than three years ago for $3.75 million. Since then, among other updates and enhancements, the shingled and wood-planked exterior of the residence has been stained charcoal, a comprehensive surveillance system has been installed, and an old barn has been converted into an airy guesthouse. The pastoral estate’s three residences together span nearly 15,000 square feet, with a total of six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, plus four powder rooms. 

      The main house is a sprawling collection of shapes and volumes, some of which take their cues from vernacular rural buildings, capped by a combination of flat, arched, and peaked rooflines. There are four ensuite bedrooms, a home gym, a state-of-the-art home theater, and a heated garage that will accommodate six cars. In addition to a cavernous double-height living room traversed by a catwalk, there’s a 49-foot-long dining room with a built-in bar area and an octagonal kitchen with a triangular light fixture suspended above a u-shaped island.

      The swimming pool is set agains a backdrop of old-growth specimen trees.

      Paul Nicol

      A soaring breezeway separates the main house from the guest house, which doubles as a poolside entertainment pavilion. On its playlist of features are a fireside lounge, a huge great room with a large kitchen, a basement, a sauna, and an indoor-outdoor bar that opens to the pool deck. And, privately positioned in a wooded area away from the main and guest houses, a second guesthouse—the old barn—has two more bedrooms and baths, plus soaring ceilings, honed concrete flooring, a fireplace in the living area, and an open-plan kitchen.

      The grounds, a park-like mix of lush lawns shaded by mature specimen trees, include a sports court for tennis and basketball and a resort-style swimming pool alongside a vast terrace. The boulder-bordered pool has two poolside ramadas, one that shelters a spa and another a sitting area.

      The home is listed with Carrie Prickett at Compass.

      Click here for more photos of Bobby Bone’s house.

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      ‘Clerks’ Filmmaker Kevin Smith Lists Ben Affleck’s Former Hollywood Hills Home

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      Indie filmmaker Kevin Smith is best known for making indie films set in his native state of New Jersey. These include the cult favorite Clerks franchise (1994–2022), Mallrats (1995), and Chasing Amy (1997). And he remains deeply tied to the Garden State, where he’s long owned a comic book store in Red Bank and where he recently bought the historic Atlantic Moviehouse in the coastal community of Highlands.

      But, for the last two decades, he and his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, have lived in Los Angeles, in a rambling mansion in the Hollywood Hills that he bought from his buddy and frequent collaborator Ben Affleck. Now looking to downsize, the couple has listed the property for sale for just under $6 million. The listing agents are Brock Harris and Lori Harris of Brock & Lori at Keller Williams Realty Los Feliz.

      The three-story home was built in the mid-1990s and is characterized by swooping curves.

      Gavin Cater

      Smith told Mansion Global that he and his wife first saw the 8,144-square-foot house at a Fourth of July barbecue in 2001, instantly “admiring how beautiful the home was.” Affleck, then at the height of his early fame as a leading man, had bought the house just a few years earlier but, according to Smith, had soured on it because it sits right up next to the street, making it too visible to paparazzi.

      Since they loved it so much, Affleck suggested they buy the house for the same price he paid in 1998. And, in early 2003, they did, shelling out $1.62 million for the three-story home that’s notched into a steep hillside. Notable for its verticality and curved façade, the five-bedroom, eight-bath home was built in 1993 and features nearly 12-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, custom-crafted ironwork, and a combination of hardwood and terra cotta tile flooring. An elevator services all floors, including the street-level three-car garage.

      A sculptural bar anchors one end of the living room.

      Gavin Cater

      There’s a sculptural wet bar in the fireside living room, and the kitchen, with two stainless-steel-topped islands, wooden cabinets, and designer appliances, features a curved wall of windows with a leafy, over-the-treetop view of the surrounding hills. Other rooms include a dedicated dining room and a library where Smith recorded his SModcast podcast, as well as the Vegan Abbatoir podcast he co-hosted with his actress and musician daughter, Harley Quinn Smith.

      Three of the four guest bedrooms are ensuite, while the primary suite is described in marketing material as “reminiscent of a Parisian apartment.” The spacious suite includes a living room with fireplace, a raised bedroom area, an adjoining study/office, two walk-in closets, and a sophisticated bathroom with a sauna. 

      Huge potted plants envelop a secluded patio warmed by an adobe fireplace.

      Gavin Cater

      A plant-filled patio with a chunky, tile-accented adobe fireplace runs along a slender gap between the house and a retaining wall, while the rooftop swimming pool and spa are bathed in sunlight.

      The home was used during the pandemic as a set for the TBS reality competition series Celebrity Show-Off, on which Smith placed as runner-up. Now empty nesters, the couple have downsized to a recently renovated home in nearby Studio City.

      Other Hollywood heavy hitters who have called the Outpost Estates neighborhood home include Dolores del Rio, Bela Lugosi, and Gore Vidal, along with Charlize Theron, Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder, and David Lynch.

      Click here for more photos of Kevin Smith’s L.A. home. More