Ben Affleck Just Paid $20.5 Million for a Cliff May-Designed Equestrian Spread in Los Angeles
Seemingly rare are the Tinseltown romances that play out like they do in those endearingly sappy Hallmark movies. Case in point: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, who recently split after nearly two years of marriage. The result? A rumored divorce, along with the inevitable sale of the 38,000-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion the once-happy A-Listers shared for a little more than a year.
Affleck has nonetheless trudged on residentially, with the California-born actor and filmmaker first hanging out in a $100,000-per-month rental near his ex-wife Jennifer Garner and their teen-aged children and now picking up Los Angeles digs in the horse-friendly Sullivan Canyon community on the border of Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, right next door to a home owned by another Hollywood legend, Diane Keaton.
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Records show Affleck doled out $20.5 million for his new estate, which is roughly $16 million more than previous owners David Calvert-Jones, the Australian-born nephew of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and his wife Karina paid for the property back in early 2010. Before that, it was owned for almost five decades by Hollywood actress and activist Maxine Cooper and her Oscar-nominated producer and screenwriter husband, Sy Gomberg.
Originally built and designed in the early 1940s by noted architect Cliff May, the equestrian property underwent an extensive renovation and expansion during the Calvert-Joneses tenure in collaboration with architect Steve Giannetti and interior designer Kelly Harmon and includes a five-bedroom, five-bath house featuring roughly 6,200 square feet of split-level living space.
Nestled amid a cul-de-sac parcel spanning nearly two-thirds of an acre within the Riviera Ranch enclave that May developed, the walled and gated structure is known as Paradise Found and highlighted by a fireside living area that doubles as a screening room and a formal dining room accessible via pocketing wood doors. Also standing out is a gourmet kitchen outfitted with an eat-in island, top-tier stainless appliances, and a glass-lined breakfast nook, as well as a family room, a private office space, and a primary suite boasting a fireside sitting area and a luxe bath with dual vanities, a built-in soaking tub, and a separate shower.
Yet more amenities can be found outdoors, where the garden-laced grounds are spotlighted by a central courtyard hosting a pool and spa flanked by an open-air cabana, along with several spots that are ideal for al fresco lounging and entertaining. There’s also a two-story detached guesthouse, horse stables, and an attached three-car garage resting beside a spacious cobblestone motor court.
In addition to his just-purchased Brentwood pad, Affleck also lays claim to a secluded riverfront country estate in Georgia that he picked up in 2003, back when he and Lopez coupled up the first time around. It was here that the erstwhile couple held a lavish wedding celebration in 2022. As for Lopez, who has been spotted looking at homes in L.A. for the past couple of months, she recently sold a duplex penthouse in New York for $25 million and still owns a Hamptons estate she paid $10 million for more than a decade ago.
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