Ellen DeGeneres Buys Coastal California Mansion for Nearly $21 Million

Based on a 14th-century Spanish palace, the home has Moorish influences throughout

Ellen DeGeneres plunked down $20.95 million last week for an expansive estate on the Southern California coast outside of Santa Barbara. 

The daytime TV talk show host and comedian, 64, bought the 2.45-acre property through a trust linked to one of her long-time business managers, PropertyShark records show. 

Located in the celebrity-favored hot spot Montecito, the nearly 12,000-square-foot mansion first appeared on the market in late 2019 for $35 million, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. It reappeared in April 2021 for the markedly lower price of $24.85 million, which was cut again in January to $21.5 million.With a design based on the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, the home has a distinctly Moorish vibes, including slender columns, horseshoe arches and tilework throughout, listing photos show. 

There’s also a rotunda entryway with a hand-carved marble fountain, a wood-coffered library, steel Corinthian columns, hammam-inspired bathrooms and antique tiled-floors with radiant heat, according to The Journal. 

“It’s an incredible design,” listing agent Nancy Kogevinas of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties said. She declined to comment on the buyer.The home was built in 2014 for Kinka Usher, 62, a director of television commercials, the article said. Mr. Usher was inspired by the Alhambra, which was built primarily between 1238 and 1358, on a childhood trip to Spain. 

Mr. Usher bought the underlying property in 2010 for $5.8 million, records from PropertyShark show. He spent two years and many millions building the house, sketching the designs himself, he told The Journal. Almost all the floors were imported from Europe, and he had a swimming pond created on the grounds to the tune of about $400,000. Mr. Usher did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this article. 

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