Reese Witherspoon just purchased a new $6.9 million love nest country house in Ojai, California. According to the MLS listing, it’s a Wallace Neff architectural masterpiece that includes an equestrian compound: “The perfect 6+ acre hideaway is nestled in fabulous Ojai Valley, a short drive to one of LA’s most sought after vacation spots. Fabulous new master suite. Incredible privacy.”
The home was formerly owned by actor/director Harold Ramis (”Ghostbusters”).
The wrought-iron staircase:
Unique double doors with arched entry:
Stone fireplace:
The home appeared in House Beautiful when it was owned by interior designer Kathryn M. Ireland, and the photographs are beautiful. In the article, Ireland explained:
Originally, this house was designed by Wallace Neff in the ’20s to be a barn. Then another architect, Austen Pierpoint, made changes in the ’40s so it could be a home. This is classic Spanish architecture, but with a sense of bohemian fun, comfortable and loose. I get everything I get in the South of France, just 90 miles from L.A. But what I like most about it are the barnlike elements. When people design for animals, they do a better job! It’s not about perfect moldings or perfect floors. It’s about massive space and amazing flow. I love the way this house moves from the kitchen into the living room. And then these massive iron door handles everywhere. I love to lift them. It’s downright medieval.
Take a look at the rooms as Kathryn Ireland had them styled and how different they looked with so much color in them:
You can read more about designer Kathryn Ireland and see more photos of her work here.
Wallace Neff (1895-1982) was a Southern California architect largely responsible for the region’s distinct architectural style. He designed many celebrity homes, including the famous “Pickfair,” the mansion built for silent film actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in the early 1920s.
You know I love my trivia! Actress Pia Zadora bought Pickfair in the 1980s and demolished it to build a new home on the grounds. Deborah Harry and Iggy Pop sing about the travesty in “Well Did You Evah!” Here’s an aerial view of Pickfair:
According to Diane Kanner’s book Wallace Neff and the Grand Houses of the Golden State, Neff said, “I just build California houses for California people.” But this notoriously private architect was an inventive designer who was knew how to update and play off of traditional styles to please his famous, wealthy clients, like Cary Grant and Claudette Colbert.
Back to Reese. She divorced Ryan Phillippe in 2007 (I used to watch him play gay teen Billy Douglas on “One Life to Live” in the early ’90s–anyone else remember that?) and is now dating Jake Gyllenhall. Aren’t they cute together?
A little Reese trivia:
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She was born Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon. “Reese” is her mother’s maiden name.
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She began modeling at the age of 7.
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She landed her first major film role when she was 14 in a movie called “The Man in the Moon.”
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She was the first person to host “Saturday Night Live” after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
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She won an Oscar for her role in “Walk the Line” in 2005.
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Her best friend is Selma Blair, who played her rival in “Legally Blonde.”
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She was the highest paid actress of 2007 (according to the Hollywood Reporter), earning a reported $7 million.
Photos via ETOnline, Random Citations, RealEstalker, and Big Time Listings.
If You’re Hooked on Celebrity House Tours:
- Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s Beverly Hills Home
- Britney Spears’ House is on the Market
- Richard Gere’s House in the Hamptons
- See entire list of celeb posts
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Is it my imagination or was the landscaping about 110% better when Kathy Ireland owned the home? And wow.. it certainly WAS more colorful inside then, too! I love the picture of the bathroom… do they color the water to make it look that refreshing blue shade? I know my Georgia water certainly isn’t that pretty!
Love that bathtub! Could make me a bath person again. Also, the lovely tile on the stair risers.
Regarding the “Did you evah?” reference: now I’m going to have to go home and listen to my Red Hot & Blue cd to hear if there is such a reference. I never noticed it before. Thanks! That is one of my favorite albums, so thanks for the prod to get it out again.
Beautiful house! I love that little nook under the stairs and the twisty trees in the yard. The colors from the Ireland era really do jazz it up. Surely Reese (and Jake???) will sauce it up in her own style.
And for a little somewhat off topic rambling -
I love Reese. She’s so cute! And seems so “normal ” (that’s a relative term right?) and down-to-earth for as successul she has become, she’s never in the news partying and drunk driving, seems to be a hands-on mom.
I read in one of the tabloids while waiting in the checkout line that she also purchased a ranch. It had pics of her kids chasing and carrying around piglets. I’ll see what I can find out about that.
Did you see her on American Idol last night with the family in New Orleans?
“The Man in the Moon” – Tearjerker!! And a great movie.
My favorite movie house is from the original 1961 Parent Trap (the dad’s in Carmel, not the mom’s in Boston). Julia, can you dig up information about that one? Just please don’t tell me it was filmed on a set – my dreams will be dashed!
Just got an e-mail from Ali who did the researching into the Parent Trap house for me. She found this on Wikipedia:
“The film was shot mostly in California at various locales, including millionaire Stuyvesant Fish’s 5,200 acre (21 km²) ranch in Carmel, Monterey’s Pebble Beach golf course, and the studio’s Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon, where Mitch’s ranch was built. It was the design of this set that proved the most popular, and to this day the Walt Disney Archives receives requests for plans of the home’s interior design.
“Of course, there never was such a house; the set was simply various rooms built on a sound stage. The careful use of double-exposure and split-screen shots, as well as a double for Hayley Mills, provided the illusion of the twins.”
So apparently the house was as fake as the “twins.” Thanks, Ali! -Julia
I love the “Parent Trap’ Houses. Both the original and the re-make.
I am sure Reese will make this house perfect again. I really like her “down-to-earth” nature and don’t get me started about Jake. I will go on and on for hours. HaHaHa
Too bad the house doesn’t come with Ryan Phillipe.
I love this house and I’m not even a huge fan of arches or Spanish-style architecture. I love all the “chunkiness” and simplicity. Kathy Ireland must have been really modern in her decorating because I think those rooms would still look so good today–or maybe the styles just revolved back to that era, like clothes do.
Absolutely beautiful! I agree that it looked better decorated with color. It makes the whole place very warm and gives it character.
Oh, honey I’d buy this house. I love Reese.
I do like the bright colors of the original owner, but I like a clean, neat, no cluttered look it has now. Yes, I’m boring, but it’s much easier to keep clean this way.
Keep it up, you have me enjoying your site so much. I just found a friend a house yesterday. I can usually look at a house a decide if it fits that person. Well this one did. When her husband came home, he said “That’s the house.” Keep in mind The house is in North Pole, Alaska, they are in Texas. I just know the likes and dislikes of those people. I bet you can choose a house for someone as well, can’t you?
Have a great day!
Lynn
John 15
I just realized after looking at the photos again, It’s the same furniture as the other owner. I bet the first look is what it looked like on sale. Notice the bench under the stairs , and what looks like a Bible on the coffee table. So the look isn’t Reese’s. I bet hers is nice, being the Southern Bell that she is.
This house isn’t really my style, but I liked it much better when you showed the pictures from the photo shoot!
Oh my, I do have to say that I think that house is now my dream home. I love the decor of the house especially when Kathy Ireland owned it. Love the bight colors through out balanced so well with the natural walls and other natural elements. Perfect!
I actually remember this house from when it belonged to Kathy Ireland and was in House Beautiful! I remember being fascinated with Ireland’s use of color…it was never too much because she stuck with crisp white walls throughout. It’s the perfect blend of restraint and all-out color. It’s a bit too rustic for me, but I would have fun playing off the rustic elements with more traditional and unexpected ones too. I think it would be pretty with a neutral color palette too because the architecture is so strong and interesting. Okay now I’m just rambling…and dreaming…
Wow, wouldn’t that be a beautiful house to spend a weekend in.
I would love to know how it feels to be living in pottery barn
catalog.
WOW, I love LOVE that home!!! I would love to live in Ojai again! I lived there when I was a kid with my Grandma and it is the most peaceful, relaxed little country town you will ever experience!…orange groves eberywhere and mountains surrounding, Ojai is gorgeous! My dream would be to convince my husband to move there! He isn;t that into the idea and thinks it’s too remote, but…one can dream….
I have this magazine, and I lusted after that house so bad! I turned down the pages so I could show my sister my “dream house”….sigh…
damn it! i want this house soooo bad
ahaha if it had some stables for my horses it would be my all time dream home.
I love Reese! She is so good!!! This is like love at first view!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is the best I just cant stop loving her mua Reese
Love, Isabelle
Hey rock!!!!!
That house is awesome so gorgeous
Ill kill for it
wow
my house
It is my house i just borowed it to reese
shell give me it back next month
Its a joke
To me, the house is to black and white, no color. Is she afraid of color? Can she not afford a professional decorator? Doesn’t look like a celebrity home to me.
What an inspiration! It is so good to be able to see these photos – thanks for all the sources.
Wasn’t this house listed in arch. dig. a couple of years ago? I could swear it was….even inquired about it while passing thru ojai. I recgnized the view down from the top of the staircase into the living room. If there are any similar ones available with a few acres, please let me know. I, too fell in love with the irregularity of it!
Late to the party but for my two cents, the home looks much better in the MLS pics than it did with Ireland’s decor in HB. I remember wanting to love it, because the house seemed so cool (”bohemian spanish” right?) but I just felt like it went way tooo ethnic with the ikat fabric, Spanish painting and other very psychedelic-Catholic objects. And that weird wicker furniture under that gorgeous tree? Just punctuated a negative.
Anyway, so I am so thankful to have seen the place with a clean slate… now I’m just trying to figure how you keep little kids from going into that big open fireplace…
the design of the house is absolutely beautiful,…the landscape even better,…………loved everything but the furniture,….hate the tapestry,…..hate the hotch potch colours,…………i mean i just dont know why anyone would like all tht……….ok so i love classic and carved and guilded stuff,….but this was not very impressive,…….
I restored all of the windows, doors, tons of wood problems &plaster and painted this house over a year and a half span of time, just before Ireland bought the house. She never lived in it for a single day–the mexican laborers who redid the plumbing, landscape and remodeled one side of the main house camped in it until it was done. Ireland lied to but it for a low price, saying it was for her and her boys to live in. She flipped it and raised the price almost 3 million dollars. She was not the owner for long. The real owner (name withheld) was an amazing artist and wonderful client. I know the character of the estate before Ireland “glitzed it up” –and it was sadly watered down and cosmo’ed.
I imagine Reese is very happy though, and will never miss the old world charm that Ireland bulldozed away in her quest to make a ton of $, and glorify herself further as a designer.
Ryan Phillipe was a dope….Jake? waaay better. Beautiful home…whom ever it belongs to.
Love Reese = she deserves the success
le
house ain’t bad either …
le’s last blog post..The Love Hate Relationship that is Stay at Home Parenting
i think the pics in the irland time were taken in the middle of the day with all the lights on. thats why it looks so bright in there. i like both styles. but, kathys is a little colorful. i’ve seen this barn/type home on another show that had nothing to do with houses. i would beleive that they didnt even say where the home was except out in california. i think it was a ghost show. i might be wrong who knows. but the homeowner did NOT want to be identified.
Gorgeous home! Love this!!!!! (Both the original and “recent” pics.)
I also love Reese. She’s so talented and pretty, it’s almost sickening. And I love how she’s with Jake, who is also very good and cute. Lucky pair!