For about the last 30 years, when Jim Carrey has sought to escape the hullaballoo of Hollywood, he’s retreated behind the handsome brick gates of his two-acre estate in L.A.’s Brentwood neighborhood. Behind 280 feet of extraordinarily tall and time consumingly clipped hedging, the “Dumb and Dumber” star has presided over a private idyll that is serene and bucolic but also a playful place for artistic endeavors and a testing ground of eccentric (and expensively executed) decorative flourishes.
However, ready for a change of scenery, the “Ace Ventura” and “The Mask” star has now hoisted his longtime home on the market at $28.9 million. Marketing material describes the residence as a “mostly one-story ranch home” and a “one-of-a-kind magical sanctuary” with five bedrooms and six bathrooms, plus three more powder rooms, sprinkled across about 12,700 square feet of living space.
With polished brick and hardwood floors, pitched and beamed ceilings, and numerous fireplaces, the airy interiors serve as a backdrop for displaying a mixed-media trove of artworks, more than a few by Carrey, an experienced painter and sculptor in addition to one of the world’s most famous and highest paid comedic actors.
Flanking the center hall foyer are formal living and dining rooms, both capped by ridge-line skylights that fill them with natural light. Elsewhere there’s a roomy office, a large gym, a chef’s kitchen with an indoor barbecue, an octagonal breakfast room that looks out over the yard, and a family room so big the ebony grand piano looks almost like a toy. Guest bedrooms are ample and en suite, while the primary suite offers a covered balcony, a fireplace and an Arts and Crafts-style bathroom complete with a giant copper fireplace.
Carrey’s decorative flamboyance is perhaps in its fullest flower in the Art Deco-style movie theater, a sumptuous homage to the great movie palaces of yore. Lounges are upholstered in luscious mohair, costumes from his movies are displayed in glass cases, and his industry accolades are on display in the Beidermeier-style snack area. The theater’s black marble and mirror bathroom is almost comically decadent.
Amid the meandering grounds, with its grassy expanses, expansive patios, and mature specimen trees, there’s a properly aligned and lighted north-south tennis court, a gazebo, a waterfall that pours into a rock-lined swimming pool and spa, a pool house with bar and fireplace, and a infrared sauna as well as a steam room. A vegetable garden provides fresh organic produce and a meditation pavilion is secreted away in a secluded area of the yard.
In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, the first to report the listing, Carrey said the property has been a “place of enchantment and inspiration” but that he has decided to sell because he no longer spends very much time there and that he would like “someone else to enjoy it like I have.”
Janelle Friedman of Sotheby’s International Realty, Santa Monica / Venice Brokerage holds the listing.