Actor Brad Pitt is known for his award-winning performances, romantic entanglements, and affinity for architecture. The American superstar is an architecture enthusiast and home collector. He is also a painter, sculptor, and art collector and recently made his debut as a sculptor at a public art exhibition at the Sara Hilden Art Museum in Tampere, Finland. Over the years, he’s picked up homes in America and Europe. Some of the notable Brad Pitt house selections are a villa in Los Angeles, a chateau in the south of France, French quarters in New Orleans, and the famous Beverly hills, many of which he still owns.
Pitt has long been interested in architecture and, in 2007, founded the Make It Right Foundation to build homes for families whose original residences had been washed away in hurricane Katrina. This foundation has already built 150 self-sustainable houses in New Orleans. As his recent addition, the actor has bought the D. L. James House designed by Greene and Greene, adding another significant real estate gem to his portfolio, which he calls his new bachelor pad.
Seaward Location | Brad Pitt House
The house is located in Carmel Highlands, California. This historic craftsman-style house was designed by legendary architect Charles Greene and built for D L James, after whom the house is named. The house sits on the Carmel Highlands on a bluff overlooking the water, with maximum façade frontage to a southwest cliff facing the Pacific Sea. As the location is on the cliff, it is also called “Seaward” as it seems to be pointing towards the sea.
Seaward Planning
Looking at the house’s outer walls, it appears to be growing off the cliff, and the meandering plan defied the usual front, side, and rear elevation logic. Charles Greene’s original architectural drawings combined two-floor plans with various elevation drawings, showing that he thought of the house as a whole and never in sections. The house has a simple and open floor plan. The house, as built, has all rooms arranged on the ground floor, creating a continuity of interior spaces and vistas that rival the unimpeded view of the sea outside.
Architecture Style | Brad Pitt House
This house, “Seaward,” is generally considered one of the masterworks of the California architecture firm Greene and Greene architects (Charles Greene), one of the definitive cultivators of the Arts & Craft movement. Built-in Art & craft movement, the house itself is an art piece. Its elevation seamlessly blends into the cliff as one structure. The interior is simple, handcrafted, and well-designed. The house has a tall and wide large chimney with ornately decorated stacks, a standard design feature of the Art & craft movement.
Seaward Focus Element
The Architect personalized the form by adding an archway opening just above a steep drop to the sea, reminiscent of a similar arch he had sketched when visiting Tintagel, along the coast of Cornwall, England.
Artistic interior | Brad Pitt House
The Characteristics of the house interior describe the Art & Craft movement era in which it was designed- Raw, truthful materials focused on their natural qualities. Simple forms that hero and celebrate the construction of the object. Designed for its interior decoration, the house reflected sensitivity to the surrounding plant and wildlife in the form of gulls, seaweed, and shells. However, in its present form, the James house is decorated in carved marble rather than redwood. A design for a built-in fall-front desk in white oak demonstrates the Architect’s keen understanding of the intimate details of construction and wooden interior. The grand hearth in the family room features classic Arts & Crafts movement elements like handcrafted wood surrounds and patterned tiles in rectilinear and modular shapes. It also features another signature element associated with the Arts & Crafts movement style, the inglenook or seating areas surrounding the fireplace.
Arched windows
The house comprises arched windows and a tiled roof which reflect a Mediterranean influence and California Architecture style. This Radius or arched window is used for the exterior façade and the interior of the house, making it look extraordinary. The windows consist of multiple small panels made of timber and steel, which was prominent in the Art & Crafts movement.
Simple and clean Fireplace
The fireplace is the focal point of the rooms in which they appeared; they also serve as the house’s emotional centre. While the space, in its entirety, can seem a bit bulky or weighty owing to the influence of the wood, the fireplace area is simple in form with clear lines and inspired by Art & Crafts movement decor and styles.
Local Material
The house follows the vernacular architectural principle designed from locally available material that reflects custom and tradition. The house has an exterior of golden granite and sandstone quarried from nearby Yankee point, using the local material and giving the structure a look of emerging from the cliff. This stonework was said to be inspired by the ruins of Tintagel in England.
Landscape
The house is surrounded by a natural landscape and native plantation, which compliments its built-style structure emerging from the cliff, giving it a raw look. The house is surrounded by oak trees, shrubs, and curvilinear perennial borders.
Owner interest | Brad Pitt House
The Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt is widely known as an Architecture nerd. He is known to have a few favoured architectural styles, particularly interested in American Art & Craft movement Style houses. Seaward has been his interest since 1990 because of its expressive and aesthetic design. This year, he brought this house for $40 million and called it his cliffside bachelor pad.
References
- the Gamble House ,Late-Career Patrons: D. L. James House, Available at : https://gamblehouse.org/james-house/
- Extreme, Behind the style Art and craft – Extreme https://www.extreme-design.co.uk/journal/arts-crafts-interiors-and-architecture/
- James house, D L James Craftman Bungalow , Available at :craftmansbungalow.com
- Kolo Magazine,Step inside Brad Pitt New $40 million D.L James house, Available at : https://koloapp.in/magazine/inside-brad-pitt-new-house-in-monterey-county
- Wmagazine by Kle Muzendier,The wild history behind Brad Pittsnew $40Million Carmel Higlands home, Available at: https://www.wmagazine.com/life/brad-pitt-carmel-home-dl-james-history
- 6.House beautiful, Brad Pitt’s Real estate portfolio now incudes a $$0 Million Home in carmel California(Kelly Allen,2022), Available at : https://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/real-estate/a40839951/brad-pitt-carmel-california-home/
- Manofmany, Inside Brad Pitt’s New $57 Million Historic Californian Home (Sam Mangioni, 2022), Available at: https://manofmany.com/living/brad-pitt-dl-james-house
- Material, Fireplaces in time: Art and Craft Movement, Available at : https://www.materials-marketing.com/latest-news/fireplaces-in-time-arts-and-crafts-movement/#:~:text=Fireplaces%20loomed%20large%20in%20the,Simple%20forms
