What\u2019s the Bradmeister up to? Not what the tabloids would have you think. Certainly, the Brangelina pack must get noisy under the roof at times, but Brad Pitt\u2019s recent purchase of a dumpy little place for $1.1 million in Los Angeles\u2019 Los Feliz neighborhood shouldn\u2019t get anyone\u2014including those silly tabloids\u2014jumping to conclusions that he\u2019s jumping the family ship.<\/p>\n
Between you, me, and the gaggle of other trick-or-treaters who spotted Brad and Angelina Jolie schlepping their pack of urchins through Malibu Colony last Halloween, they all looked plenty happy together\u2014although Malibu West has taken over as the \u201cin\u201d place to beg for your Halloween candy and we were frankly surprised word hadn\u2019t reached them.<\/p>\n
So why did Brad Pitt buy the near-teardown property adjacent to what he already owns? Some would suspect that the operative word there is: teardown. At first blush, many assume that Pitt would join the ranks of other high-profile people who scoff up properties just to knock them down to expand their estates or views.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t count on it in this case. Pitt, a student of Greene & Greene\u2014he\u2019s even co-authored a book on the Blacker House\u2014is a preservationist. You can expect that he\u2019ll restore this little dilapidated house that sits adjacent to the 1915 estate he owns but rarely visits. Beats me how he\u2019ll use the new place once it\u2019s refurbished back to its glory; a period playhouse for the kids?<\/p>\n
With this new purchase, Pitt owns close to two acres in the Oaks area of Los Feliz. It\u2019s all part of what was once the Briarcliff Hunting Lodge. Pitt\u2019s newest purchase is believed to have been the dining hall.<\/p>\n
As for other celebs who may have a bulldozer on their minds, speculation is that Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen may have such intentions for a property in the Brentwood area that they recently picked up for about $3.1 million. It\u2019s a charming cottage style home that has bloggers gushing over its, well, charm. Given that the pair sold their Malibu Colony house for $15.5 million in 2008, does anyone really think they got swept up in the country\u2019s recession-sparked \u201cdownsizing-is-more-meaningful\u201d mood? Me neither. (Certainly not as long as \u201cCheers\u201d lives in syndication for another 100 years or so.)<\/p>\n
But lest we judge too harshly, it\u2019s best to keep in mind that this is Hollywood. In 2003, John Goldwyn (the G in MGM) paid $2.5 million for a 1920s restored Mediterranean in Hancock Park. At the time of the purchase, it was the highest-price-per-square-foot sale on the books. And what’d he do with it? Gutted it like a freshly caught filet. He ripped out the vintage moldings and cast aside period-detailed fireplaces while housing preservationists openly wept. Why did he do it? Because he could.<\/p>\n
Haute Living Online Real Estate Editor Ann Brenoff writes for AOL on WalletPop.com and Luxist.com. She also writes the Chief Dwellings column for the <\/em>Los Angeles Business Journal and manages her own public relations and marketing firm out of Los Angeles. She formerly wrote the Hot Property column for the <\/em>Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What\u2019s the Bradmeister up to? Not what the tabloids would have you think. Certainly, the Brangelina pack must get noisy under the roof at times, but Brad Pitt\u2019s recent purchase of a dumpy little place for $1.1 million in Los Angeles\u2019 Los Feliz neighborhood shouldn\u2019t get anyone\u2014including those silly tabloids\u2014jumping to conclusions that he\u2019s jumping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1749,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hlrn","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n