In 2016, when California was in the middle of a long drought, she purchased about 2.4 acres in Montecito. She tore down two older homes and built a roughly 14,000-square-foot estate. She discovered the run-down lot on a real estate app in 2015, according to CNN’s report on her Architectural Digest cover story.
Most of us have probably daydreamed about a big home makeover. Gwyneth Paltrow really did it and then took the idea much further. That’s a bold thing to say about a place you are about to buy. It also sets up a story that is more than just a pretty house.
Paltrow said it was “like Grey Gardens.
In 2016, Santa Barbara County, where Montecito is located, experienced severe water stress. Jameson Lake, the local supply for the Montecito Water District, fell to 10% of its capacity that year, according to a report from the Water Education Foundation . Water agencies there declared drought emergencies in 2014. The penalties were suspended in March 2017 when rain partially refilled the two lakes. Back in 2017, the local design review board approved the 14,000-square-foot plan tentatively, even though one neighbor had objected fiercely. The home was completed after six years, with Paltrow opening her doors to the Architectural Digest tours at the beginning of 2022.
What sets this story apart is the timing. Montecito even resorted to rationing with penalties. Big projects often take a long time. Inside, it has a spa, complete with a sauna, steam room, hot tub, and cold plunge. Reports on the tour say the house is solar-powered and has a gray-water system. This kind of system recycles used water from showers and sinks to irrigate plants, among other things. Public reports don’t show how much water the home uses, so it’s hard to gauge its real impact.
Another major source for the area, Lake Cachuma, dropped so low that a barge had to pump water from the middle of the lake, the same report said. Paltrow says that building the house taught her about patience and gratitude.
