The actress and her husband, comedy writer Dave McCary, spent more than three years restoring the house, which is one of the priciest properties for sale in the Texas city.
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In 2021, actress Emma Stone purchased a historic estate in Austin, Texas, with a plan to move her family there. Four years later, she has instead decided to put the property on the market.
The actress and her husband, comedy writer Dave McCary, are asking $26.5 million for the newly renovated estate, according to Eric Moreland of Moreland Properties/Forbes Global Properties, one of the listing agents. The 1.25-acre property, located in the upscale Tarrytown neighbourhood, will be among the most expensive on the market in Austin.
Stone and McCary have spent more than three years renovating and restoring the Texas property, Moreland said.
A spokesperson for Stone didn’t respond to requests for comment. Moreland said the couple’s New York business interests have expanded since they started the remodel, and while they hope to live in Austin eventually, it doesn’t make sense for now.
The couple, who are co-founders of the production company Fruit Tree, own a roughly $12 million apartment in lower Manhattan, according to property records. Stone is slated to star in the upcoming contemporary Western film “Eddington.”
It’s unclear what Stone and McCary paid for the Austin property, since Texas is a nondisclosure state . The Georgian-style brick house dates to around 1940, making it one of the oldest estates in the area.
The roughly 10,000-square-foot estate includes a main house with four bedrooms and a two-bedroom guesthouse. The property also has a pool, a hot tub, and a garage with a screening room and entertaining space above.
As part of the renovation, the couple removed, cleaned and reused all the exterior brick. They also reconfigured some of the living spaces, opening the kitchen to the living room for a more modern layout. It took more than a year just to install the millwork in the screening room, said Moreland.
The contractors are now putting the finishing touches on the property, he said.
The “La La Land” actress has a track record of buying and selling her homes for significantly more than she paid. In 2022, she sold her blufftop Malibu, Calif., home for $4.425 million after buying it for $3.25 million in 2018, according to property records.
Last year, she sold her home in L.A.’s Comstock Hills neighbourhood for $4.3 million, significantly more than the $2.3 million she paid in 2019.
Austin saw an influx of new residents during COVID, but many of those are now returning to the East and West coasts, particularly workers in the tech sector.
While the market “has come down to earth a little bit” since the pandemic-era boom, Moreland said, he has seen a number of $20 million-plus deals over the past few months.
Moreland has the listing with colleague Diane Humphreys.
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The actress, who felt a ‘spiritual calling’ to the Harrison, N.Y., property, is asking $4.99 million for the home.
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Two years ago, fed up with the long drive to the Hamptons, the actress and daytime talk-show host Drew Barrymore started looking for a weekend home in Westchester County.
When she saw a circa-1700s mansion for sale, Barrymore said, she felt a karmic connection to the Harrison, N.Y., property.
“I walked in, and I was, like, ‘I know my family’s been here. I know that I have to work on this house. I know that I’m supposed to be doing this,’” said Barrymore, 51 years old, who lives primarily in Manhattan with her two daughters. “It was like a strange, spiritual calling.”
It turned out she actually did have a connection to the area: Her great-aunt, the late actress Ethel Barrymore, had a home in nearby Mamaroneck, where an enclave known as Barrymore Lane is widely believed to be named for the family.
Barrymore bought the roughly 12-acre estate for $4.4 million, according to property records. She did an extensive renovation; she has a deep interest in interior design and has considered pursuing it professionally. “Between Pinterest, thrifting and a can of paint, there’s nothing you can’t do,” Barrymore said with a laugh.
But roughly two years later, the actress is listing the property for $4.99 million. The renovation took longer than expected, she said, and the family’s lives have changed in the interim.
The estate includes a roughly 5,600-square-foot, five-bedroom main house, a pool and a poolhouse with an additional bedroom, according to Kori Sassower of Compass.
Barrymore said she previously owned a home in Sagaponack, N.Y., but the distance from the city and the weekend traffic to the Hamptons became untenable as her children’s schedules filled up with social and sporting activities.
Harrison, by contrast, offered accessibility and charm. The property, located roughly an hour from Manhattan, is a short drive from picturesque Rye and Bronxville, while nearby Bedford has drawn celebrities. The median sales price for a home in Harrison is around $1.1 million, according to Redfin.
The property’s expansive acreage gave Barrymore a sense of being close to nature. “It’s really like being in your own personal park,” she said. “There are tons of deer. There are pheasants, there are ducks, there are rabbits.”
When she purchased the home, Barrymore said, she thought it would need only a cosmetic renovation. Instead, it turned into a “complete internal gut,” with much of the plumbing, heating and air conditioning replaced, she said.
Barrymore also revamped the ground floor to open up the kitchen, which felt dark and boxed in. “It took a year of engineering to figure out how to accomplish it,” she said.
Barrymore declined to comment on the exact costs of the renovation, but compared herself to actress Shelley Long’s character in the 1986 film “The Money Pit.”
Some of the rooms have maximalist patterned wallpaper, elaborate art walls and heavy, old-fashioned draperies. Others are minimalist. “Every little corner gets scrutinised for what it could be,” she said. “If I see a closet, it’s probably not a closet, it’s going to become some secret hideout for my kid, or I’m going to take the door off and turn it into a sculptural piece.”
In the home’s living room, Barrymore said she cycled through multiple paint colours, including pink and green.
“I painted it all green because I was dying for greenery. And then the summer came, and I was, like, ‘Oh, God, everything is green!’”
She spent time at the property even while it was under construction. When they didn’t have a kitchen, the family cooked dinner on a grill outside and drank boxed water, she said.
When workers were redoing the pipes, Barrymore couldn’t shower. “I lived in the house in the most primitive of scenarios,” she said. “It’s some of my favourite times and memories.”
When Barrymore celebrated her birthday at the property in February, she and two friends decided to grill for old time’s sake, even though the kitchen was fully functional.
“There we were in zero-degree weather with parkas, hoodies, gloves and face masks. But we were, like, ‘We gotta do it. It’s the tradition.”
Barrymore, who grew up in Los Angeles, stars in films like “Never Been Kissed,” “Riding in Cars With Boys” and “Charlie’s Angels.” Her eponymous daytime talk show launched in September 2020.
Sassower is listing the property with her colleague Brian K. Lewis in New York City.
