Monday, August 24, 2009

Gwynnie and Chris Spread Out

We're gonna get our celebrity real estate feet wet this misty Monday morning with a little tidbit about Oscar winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her Grammy winning rock star huzband Chris Martin who, we all know, warbles for the colossally successful band Coldplay.

A few months ago Your Mama heard from someone who would know that that Gwynnie and Chris were shacking up in a massive, leased estate on Mandeville Canyon Road in Brentwood, CA. They've since moved on, the house they leased in Los Angeles is listed for sale with a breathtaking $24,000,000 price tag and more recently Gwynnie and Chris have been seen humping around the Hamptons where the comely couple own a sizable, shingled house with a detached exercise studio–natch–in sleepy but still traffic clogged Amagansett. Presumably the Friends of Madonna have been popping into Manhattan–probably by helicopter–every now and then where they possess a posh penthouse pad in TriBeCa for which they splashed out $5,100,000 in Spring '07.

While spending the summer frolicking and detoxing in the Hamptons, Gywnnie has found time to offer woman and gays her own version of homespun lifestyle prescriptive advice on nourishing their inner aspects as well as oversee construction on a major expansion of their primary home in London. Gwynnie and Chris bought their Belsize Park manse in 2004 from Oscar winning director Sam Mendes and Oscar winning actress Kate Winslet for a reported £2,400,000 and two years ago they picked up the townhouse next door for a reported £3,100,000. According recent reports, a new extension off the side their existing house will contain a gym, changing room, three bedrooms and 1 pooper and the planned combination of the two townhouses will give the luxe living family of four a 33-room Belsize Park residential beast.

Gwynnie and Chris are hardly setting a trend in celebrities combining adjoining London townhouses. Last year celebrity chef Jamie Oliver picked up the house next door to his Primrose Hill home and combined them into one 19-room monster and the children will recall that Gwynnie's bestie Madonna also owns side by side townhouses in Marylebone that she hopes (or already did) combine into one sprawling spread. Of course, now that Madge and Guy are no more, perhaps they should keep (or have kept) the two townhouses separate.

While Chris is surely pulling down piles of pounds making music and touring with Coldplay, Your Mama thinks Gwynnie better scoot her baby-making booty back to work right quick because keeping up with the exorbitant renovation costs, steep taxes and high maintenance on all their posh properties surely costs the couple a vast sum of money each year and Gywnnie doing just one, or maybe two, not very good movies every year doesn't seem like it would go quite far enough in paying all the nannies, chefs, personal assistants, flower arrangers, chauffeurs, woodwork polishers, weed pullers and terlit gurls required to keep their homes and lives running with the efficiency and grace of Patek Phillipe watch.

11 comments:

E.J. said...

The house at 1928 Mandeville has a great provenence; in the late 1930's-early 1940's, producer Nicholas Nayfack and actress Lynne Carver lived here and then rented it in the early-mid 1940's to Rex Harrison, who lived here with his wife Lilli Palmer. They were living here during his affair with Carole Landis, and he hid out here when she killed herself in 1948 because he refused to marry her. Adela Mara also lived at 1928, as did the legendary William Powell.

ChicagoGrrrl said...

im sure she can be a stay at home mom with absolutely no money concerns whatsoever. she can buy and renovate 10 more homes and a private island with absolutely no concerns about money. do you have a clue how much money that band makes?

angie said...

Presumably now that Gwyneth and Chris are firmly entrenched as an iconic Hollywood A-list super couple, they are busy doing what any other self-respecting super couple does by Hollywood standards - carving out and living a 'we do it because we can' jet set lifestyle to match. Typically that means homes, homes, and more homes, including developing and refining what they already possess (Brad & Angelina also come to mind). I looked for and found several estates listed for sale in the LA area with an asking price of exactly $24,000,000. Anyone have a clue which one it is that Gwyneth and Chris are renting? Very interesting article Mama, thank you.

Anonymous said...

Nice life they have. Back to dusting my one bedroom, one terlit apartment.

angie said...

Oops, never mind my question. I misunderstood what Mama wrote, thinking they had moved on to another rental home in LA with an asking price of $24M, when apparently it's same the home they were renting.

E.J., great backround information on that home's history.

NewYorkQueer said...

An Ack-tresssss, Oh WOW! I bet it was a trial getting that first audition with the family connections, read MOM, and all. Seems that we have become a country of generational family buisnesses, actor families, political families, rock and roll families etc. Does anyone besides me feel maybe these guys get paid just a little it too much money? Not to be small minded or display an unseemly envy you understand.

Madam Pince said...

Anything that keeps Gwyneth on the other side of the pond is a good thing, in my opinion. Her highly talented and marvelously modest mama must be ashamed she raised such an egotist.

Anonymous said...

Belsize Park is a really nice area & generally pretty affluent like much of North West London but their property is on the periphery of Belsize Park & backs onto a large council estate! Just kinda funny considering Gwynnie lived in Belgravia before she met Chris which has to be one of the most exclusive, expensive residential areas on the planet ... Just surprised she went from Belgravia to a not so nice part of Belsize Park ... Chris must have been wearing the pants when it came to purchasing the property, she just doesn't seem the kinda person to live there, she's more Notting Hill/Primrose Hill/Chelsea ...

Anonymous said...

Belsize Park a lovely part of Ldn. Just a word on Madonna her townhouses remain separate she wanted to knock through but wasn't allowed by Westminster Council due to the historical signifance of the homes. Hence why there are lots of snaps of her in her Gym clothes going to the house next door!

Anonymous said...

"wasn't allowed by Westminster Council due to the historical signifance of the homes"

Huh? All the streets/houses around there are all the same ... The only way you're limited to changing interiors is if they're Grade 1 listed which I highly doubt her townhouses are ... Very few townhouses in London are. Otherwise she's free to do whatever the hell she likes with them as long as the exteriors aren't changed ... I can't see why she would be turned down especially considering some of the renovation jobs that go on in Westminster ... I sometimes wonder how far under people need to dig to create new floors ... Lower Ground floors don't seem to be enough these days & people are having sub basements & sub-sub basements & even sub-sub-sub basements! It's beyond ridiculous, move to Surrey if you need that much space!

Anonymous said...

Errr.....its because all the houses are the same that she wasn't allowed to turn them into one dwelling its called keeping in with the charater of the area. Also changing two houses into one isn't changing the interior, and the houses don't have to be Grade 1 listed. I think it has to do with reducing the number of dwelling in the area, i.e turning two townhouses into 4 apartments probably would get the go ahead. Also I think Madonna's is Grade listed because its wider than most in the same area.