Oh good, it's been awhile since we had such a clear-cut example of celebrity capriciousness and $50M tomfoolery. New England Patriots QB Tom Brady and his equally famous supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen, just listed their custom-built, much-whispered-about Los Angeles chateau for $50M—a whopping six months after the McCastle got a huge feature in Architectural Digest. Designed by megamanse sire Richard Landry, the 13,890-square-foot, five-bedroom manor boasts an acid-washed limestone façade, a driveway that, according to AD, "leads over a pond to a motor court paved in reclaimed cobblestones and then to a stone bridge spanning a koi-stocked moat," and other such "normal" accommodations that let Bündchen "live in a place that feels like a real home, where you can put your feet up on the couch and just relax." As one commenter once noted: the parody writes itself.
According to the AD's Mayer Rus, the manse is a "picturesque but not pompous," but, well, tell that to the "custom-made wrought iron monkey bars" or the pool "laid out with two straight sides and one long, sinuous edge that helps give the impression of a natural lake." And because Bündchen is an "earth mother" (or so says their interior designer Joan Behnke), the home folds in reclaimed materials for the decking, floorboards, tiles, bricks, doors, and marble fireplaces. Plus there are solar panels, composting, and gray-water systems—because that's totally enough to offset all the materials, labor, and money required to erect a home this large.
Anyway, the couple bought the empty lot in Brentwood, Calif., for $11.75M in 2008 and shelled out a rumored $20M to get the place designed and built. Why the sudden change of heart? Word is they're ready to move full-time to the Boston suburbs, where the pair are already working on another ground-up castle—this one, naturally, both larger and more expensive.
The listing photos:
· 12780 Chalon Road [Westside Estate Agency Homes]
· Tom and Gisele Selling Mega-Estate in L.A. [TMZ via The Real Estalker]
· Inside Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen's 'French Chateau via the Pacific Coast Highway' [Curbed National]
· All Tom Brady coverage [Curbed National]
Loading comments...