The actor's new clifftop home has a storied history.
James Devaney/GC ImagesAfter buying one of the most unique coastal properties in California last year, it now looks like Brad Pitt may be moving to his Carmel castle permanently.
In July 2022 we learned that the megastar — who picked up his first acting Oscar in 2020 for his turn in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood" — had forked over $40 million for a historic home perched over the Pacific on the Central Coast.
According to TMZ, the actor has now sold his sprawling Los Angeles estate in the Hollywood Hills and intends to move to the more peaceful, oceanside home known as "Seaward." Hanging over the bluffs in the Carmel Highlands, the sandstone Mediterranean castle was built a century ago by famed Arts and Crafts architect Charles Greene to resemble Tintagel in Cornwall, England — the medieval fortress where King Arthur was conceived, so the legend goes.
The home was built in 1918 to resemble King Arthur's legendary birthplace, Tintagel Castle, in Cornwall, England.
Wikimedia CommonsBuilt in 1918 for Kansas City businessman D.L. James, the house was later lived in by James' son, controversial writer Daniel Lewis James. James was most famous for writing about Chicano culture in Los Angeles and kept his identity secret for most of his life. He came under criticism later for instead going by the pseudonym Danny Santiago as he achieved fame.
More recently, the property was owned by Chicago financier Joe Ritchie, who died last year.
The home was once described by architecture critic Randell Makinson as "a monument unique in this country." Built from granite and sandstone quarried from the cliffs there, Makinson wrote that "the stone structure seems to have grown out of its site atop the rocky cliffs south of Carmel. At places it is difficult to ascertain just where nature's rock has ended and man's masonry genius has begun."
The D.L. James "Seaward" House in Carmel Highlands, California.
Google EarthPitt is a known fan of historic buildings, once proclaiming, “Whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion.”
His Los Feliz compound, reportedly sold this week, was the longtime family home for the actor, ex-wife Angelina Jolie and their six children. It was previously owned by Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira.