Celebrities|News

The late beauty mogul owned the villa in the sought-after La Californie neighborhood from 1961 to 2004.

Two decades after Estée Lauder’s death, the late cosmetic mogul’s “favorite vacation home” in Cannes is up for grabs. The French Riviera is, of course, synonymous with the perfume industry, and, interestingly, Lauder’s former summer home is where the savvy American businesswoman created some of her famous fragrances. On the market with Hamptons for £6.7 million (or roughly $8.7 million), the stately villa is nestled on Avenue du Roi Albert in La Californie, an exclusive residential enclave in the city’s Alpes-Maritimes region. According to the listing, Estée and her late husband, Joseph, bought the palatial property together back in 1961. The self-made beauty magnate held onto the place until 2004, the same year she passed away at the age of 97.

RELATED: A Historic French Villa That Once Hosted Grace Kelly Just Listed for $8.6 Million 

The next owners purchased the sun-filled pad from the Lauder’s children shortly after and put the place through a thoughtful renovation. During the remodel, they stumbled upon some of Estée’s old documents, including a letter from Stanley Marcus, the founder of Neiman Marcus.

The villa dates back to 1926 and today comprises six bedrooms and six bathrooms in 4,305 square feet. Internally, you’ll find spacious living areas, a stunning primary suite, a marble and wood-clad kitchen, and a home office. There are sweeping Mediterranean Sea views from every level. Outside, the landscaped grounds are decked out with formal gardens, plus a covered patio and a heated swimming pool.

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Occupied by the tennis legend for over a decade and currently owned by designer Rodrigo Vargas, the Colonial Mediterranean home is nestled amid a spacious double lot featuring a pool and spa.

A little more than five years after Serena Williams finally managed to offload her longtime home in the Los Angeles enclave of Bel Air for almost $4 million off the original $12 million ask, the retired tennis superstar’s onetime estate has popped up for sale yet again, this time with a $13.5 million price tag. The listing is held by Louis DeLaura and Ernie Stone of Sotheby’s International Realty.

Famously owned by the 23-time Grand Slam singles winner for 13 years from 2006 to spring 2019, when the place traded hands for $8.1 million, records show the property in the Stone Canyon neighborhood was last sold to L.A.-based interior designer Rodrigo Vargas and his partner Frederick Storey for a speck under $8 million in late 2020.

Originally built in the 1930s but remodeled and expanded in the years since, the Colonial Mediterranean structure is tucked away on a fenced and gated double parcel spanning nearly 3 acres, just minutes from Hotel Bel-Air. Inside, six bedrooms and seven baths are filtered across a little more than 6,100 square feet of two-level living space that is adorned throughout with walls of glass spilling out to grounds laced with mature trees and water features.

Upon entering the double front doors via a lengthy vine-covered colonnade connected to a moto court and three-car garage, an entry foyer flows to a semi-circular living room boasting marble floors and built-in bookshelves. Other highlights include a wood-paneled study with a bar and a formal dining room topped by a snazzy chandelier, while the all-white kitchen is decked out with limestone countertops, high-end stainless appliances, and an accompanying breakfast nook lined with windows.

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RELATED: A Tech Magnate Is Asking $12.5 Million for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Former L.A. Home

We can’t disagree. The gated residence offers “unparalleled privacy and elegance,” the listing notes.

The interiors are defined by tall ceilings and “an inviting and spacious atmosphere.”

The open kitchen features high-end appliances and flows to several dining areas. Upstairs, there’s a large primary suite with a private balcony, a walk-in closet, and an en suite bath.

Other highlights include a media area, a custom gym, and a downstairs office perfect for “remote work, music making, or study,” according to the listing.

Out back, there’s a covered patio, pool and spa, and space for entertaining.

When not dabbling in real estate, the Australian-born Wilson has a smashing acting career. She’s had standout roles in the “Pitch Perfect” franchise, “Bridesmaids,” and many a rom-com, including “How To Be Single,” “Isn’t It Romantic,” and “Senior Year.” She recently penned a memoir, “Rebel Rising.”

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Almost three months after Jim Demetriades hoisted his extravagant Los Angeles compound known as Villa Theos on the market with an impressive $85 million price tag, the veteran tech entrepreneur has now put another smaller house he owns right next door up for sale, asking a smidge under $12.5 million.

The founder and CEO of Kairos Ventures has owned his larger property in the Beverly Hills Post Office area since 2000. That’s when he and his then-new wife Nancy paid $8.4 million for a single house and then began piecing together a gated collection of red brick and stucco structures that cost tens of millions of dollars to assemble and feature a total of 13 bedrooms and 16 baths in 28,000 square feet, all of it resting on two parcels of land spanning over 2 acres.

Ten months after his death at age 70, the Los Angeles estate of actor, comedian, writer, and producer Paul Reubens—best known for his childlike, red bow tie-wearing alter-ego Pee-wee Herman—is available for the first time in almost four decades, asking just under $5 million. Built in the late 1950s and boasting nearly 3,000 square feet of living space, the midcentury ranch house sits atop a promontory in the sought-after Oaks neighborhood of Los Feliz and comes complete with views of the Griffith Park Observatory and the iconic Hollywood Sign from nearly every vantage point.

A California Institute of the Arts theater student and member of West Coast comedy troupe The Groundlings—where he originated his Pee-wee character in the 1970s—Reubens went on to become a film and TV sensation in the ’80s, starring in The Pee-wee Herman Show, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-wee, and Pee-wee’s Playhouse. The recipient of a 1988 Hollywood Walk of Fame star, he’s also known for his work on Mystery Men, Blow, and Murphy Brown, the latter of which earned him an Emmy nod.

Though his image was somewhat tarnished in later years due to a couple of arrests—one for indecent exposure and another for possessing obscene material—he subsequently appeared in a new version of The Pee-wee Herman Show at L.A.’s Club Nokia and on Broadway, as well as the movie Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.

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The Brooklyn native, 81, and her husband, Jerry, who is also a former television personality and judge, paid $8.5 million for the home in 2013, records show.

The eight-room unit, in a pre-war building designed by the renowned architect Rosario Candela, is the “epitome of refined living,” according to the listing with Tom Postilio and Mickey Conlon of Compass.

“Judy has impeccable taste in real estate, and this home is no exception,” Postilio said. “Any devotee of Sutton Place will find this home completely in tune with its surroundings. Its timeless design bucks trends in favor of style, and this penthouse has style in spades.”

A 29-foot entrance gallery leads into the home, which has a living room with a wood-burning fireplace; a formal dining room with floor-to-ceiling French casement doors; a wood-paneled library; and a chef’s kitchen that doubles as a social hub and casual dining area, the listing said.

There’s also a curved staircase with its original wrought-iron balustrade and four bedrooms, including a corner primary suite. The real show-stopping feature might be the expansive wraparound terrace, though, which has “jaw-dropping vistas of the New York skyline and the East River,” Conlon said.

“Every room in the home is a place you want to be,” he added. “The light and views are extraordinary, and the quality of craftsmanship throughout is impeccable. That said, you’d have a hard time coaxing us off that terrace—even on the coldest day of the year.”

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Sofía Vergara doesn’t mince words about the condition of her palatial Beverly Park manse when she acquired the property. “There were arches on top of arches, all with columns. It felt like a castle in Transylvania,” recalls the effervescent actor-producer, currently playing against type as Colombian cocaine queenpin Griselda Blanco in the Netflix series Griselda. “But the layout was perfect, and I loved that you could see the landscape from every room, even though there wasn’t much of a garden to look at yet. I knew what I would do to make it my own,” she insists.

There were, predictably, a few challenges. Despite the voluminous rooms and high ceilings, Vergara wanted the house to feel “homey and comfortable, a place where people would want to hang out and relax,” she says. On top of that, the existing 1990s architecture did not exactly conform to her vision of “a house with history and texture, a well-lived house.” The structure may not have been new, but it most certainly wasn’t old in the way the actor fancied. After Timothy Corrigan worked for several years on the architectural design and interiors, ultimately Instagram led Vergara to the perfect collaborator to fully realize her transformation mission. Having long followed the work of Ohara Davies-Gaetano, Vergara simply dialed up the Los Angeles–based designer and got started. “I called her, we clicked, and I fell in love with her ideas,” the actor recollects. “When I handed her my inspiration folder, I realized most of the images were hers.”

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The historic French Quarter estate that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt lived in for a decade has officially been sold for a cool $2.8 million.

The aughts power couple purchased the 1830s traditional-style house for $3.5 million shortly after their 12-year relationship began, when Pitt became heavily involved in rebuilding homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They sold it a decade later in 2016 for $4.9 million, records show. The house changed hands multiple times since Pitt and Jolie sold it, including to Paul Allen, the late Microsoft cofounder who died in 2018, as well as to recording engineer Cosimo Matassa.

Since the property was first listed for $5.35 million in September 2022, it underwent a series of price fluctuations. A year later, it dropped to $3.25 million. In early November of 2023, the estate was relisted at $3.475 million. In December, the house went up for auction with bidding starting at $1 million. “The campaign resulted in nearly 1,000 inquiries from buyer prospects and registered 12 bidders participating in the auction,” Scott Kirk, president and CEO of auction managers Interluxe Auctions, tells ELLE DECOR, before it was ultimately sold. The buyer has not yet been identified on public records.

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Taylor Swift may be best known for her impressive music career, though with eight homes across four states, she may be adding “real estate mogul” to her repertoire pretty soon. The 33-year-old superstar—who recently completed the first U.S. leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour—is worth an estimated $570 million, according to Forbes, $150 million of which she has invested in real estate.

Swift has come a long way, from country girl to global pop star. Her rise to the top began on a Christmas tree farm in Cumru Township, Pennsylvania, before the Swift family moved 15 minutes away to a five-bedroom home in Wyomissing, just outside of Reading. It was in a Georgian Colonial–style home that she first began to exhibit an interest in music and started to play guitar. At 14, Swift convinced her parents to move to Nashville to pursue her music career—which is where she made her first official real estate purchase, in 2009, a condo that she still owns today.

Swift has been shaking off doubters ever since, amassing eight diverse pads, ranging from a $150 million penthouse in Manhattan’s TriBeCa neighborhood to an 11,000-square-foot historical landmark in California. And there’s no telling how much more she’ll conquer in the kingdom of real estate (and what new songs she’ll sing about them), amid a successful tour that Forbes estimates will make her a billionaire by the end of this year.

Curious to see the spaces Swift inhabits? See below for a closer look at the star’s properties.

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