At this point, we can just call Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi the ultimate celebrity house flippers. The couple have successfully flipped over fifteen homes in Montecito alone, including the purchase and sale of separate neighborhood properties earlier this year. In Los Angeles county, the couple flipped their Robert Skinner-designed house back in May, just eight months after purchasing the immaculate midcentury home. Now they’ve gone for another iconic property within the county, Bel Air’s Brown-Sidney house, in an off-market deal for $29 million, according to Dirt.
Designed in 1955 by modernist starchitect Richard Neutra, the acclaimed midcentury residence sits at the end of a steep curved driveway, surrounded by lush greenery in the tony Bel Air neighborhood. In 2019, celebrated fashion designer Tom Ford sold the house for $20 million after purchasing it in 1997 and partnering with AD100 architecture firm Marmol Radziner to make significant restorations.
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Not many pictures of the hilltop home’s interiors are accessible to the public, but judging from the few available, the three bedroom, six bathroom house is classic Neutra, with clean geometric lines throughout, an open-floor plan, and several glass-paneled walls that facilitate natural light. Pictures on Marmol Radziner’s website display a neutral brown and white palette on the inside, and property grounds with a pool, pool house, hillside landscaping, and zen bamboo above a narrow water feature. There’s no way to tell if the owners DeGeneres and de Rossi purchased from made their own updates since the property was never on the market. Regardless, the couple are sure to enjoy the home’s permanent 180 degree views.
Given its creator, and the restorations by Marmol Radziner, the house is something of a trophy for fans of modernism. But with our savvy Hollywood flippers Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi now holding the deed, Neutra devotees need not relinquish hope—the famed property may soon be put back on the market.
