Ellen DeGeneres buys another California home for $21M

Daytime host, comedian and actress Ellen DeGeneres has shelled out $21M for another California home. 

DeGeneres recently bought a Moorish-inspired spread in Santa Barbara County, California. Realtor.com reported that the building has a Villa Tragara’s design influence which comes from Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain.

The nearly 12,000-square-foot property, on 2.45 acres, asked as much as $35 million in 2019, according to reports at the time, meaning the 64-year-old got quite the deal.

DeGeneres whose show will end this year, and her wife Portia de Rossi, 49, aren’t strangers to Montecito. Dirt reported that the couple own a $14.3 million ranch there, as well as a small cottage too.

Also in Montecito, a property that DeGeneres and de Rossi bought in September 2021 for $12 million off-market, is now up for sale at $13.9 million (Dirt also notes that latter pad seems to have found a buyer, but is “tied up” in escrow.)

They also own a midcentury modern home in Beverly Hills, which DeGeneres shelled out $8.5 million to get last August.

Kinka Usher, a French director of television commercials, whose film credits include 1999’s box office bomb “Mystery Men,” designed and built this just-sold Montecito estate in 2014.

Only one listing image is available, showing a red-tone exterior accented with candy cane-striped arches similar to ones on the Mezquita cathedral in Cordoba, Spain.

The estate stands on a knoll with views of the Pacific Ocean. The property has a formal motorcourt for arrivals, and a hand-carved front door. The floors, radiant-heated throughout, were imported from Europe. There are also bathrooms inspired by Turkish hammam spas and decorative accents of Corinthian columns.

Outside, the fully landscaped grounds include a heated pool that reportedly cost Usher $400,000 to install. There’s also courts for pickle ball, bocce and tennis, a covered pergola that seat 16 and koi ponds. The listing additionally notes the land also has a fire pit and an olive orchard.