Ellen DeGeneres Sells Roman Villa in Montecito for $32M

Billionaire mining mogul Robert Friedland has bagged a second Santa Barbara-area estate, for $32 million.

Five months after the founder of Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines paid $46.9 million for a 2-acre bluffside estate in Carpinteria, Friedland bought an 8-acre estate at 319 San Ysidro Road in Montecito, according to the Robb Report.

The sellers of the 105-year-old, Roman-style “Pompeian Court” were Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who’d sought $46.5 million.

The celebrity couple bought the five-bedroom, 10-bathroom villa in June 2022 for $22.5 million.

The 7,800-square-foot manor, built in 1919, lies behind an iron gate at the end of a quarter-mile long driveway lined with olive trees.

Described in the listing as a “classic Roman courtyard residence,” the single-story house was remodeled in 2000 before being revamped by DeGeneres and de Rossi into “a minimalist and soothingly neutral retreat,” according to Robb.

The square villa opens onto a central courtyard with Roman columns and an outdoor fireplace.

The 8-acre property includes two guesthouses, a poolside cabana, a small art studio and a temple pavilion.

They’re surrounded by a tennis court, a chardonnay vineyard, formal hedgerows and lawns with Italian cypresses, oaks and eucalyptus trees.

In October, Friedland and his wife, Darlene, bought the 9,400-square-foot mansion on 2 acres at 3165 Padaro Lane in Carpinteria. The off-market deal was the biggest in Santa Barbara County last year.

Padaro Lane, among the most prestigious addresses in Carpinteria, includes homes owned by Kevin Costner, Kourtney Kardashian, George Lucas, and Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.

The Friedlands, who count their main residence as a luxury flat in Singapore, own two side-by-side estates in Beverly Hills they bought in 2021 for $26 million. In late 2020, they paid $16 million for Zsa Zsa Gabor’s longtime Bel-Air mansion — then bulldozed it. They also own a blufftop villa in Phuket, Thailand, with three infinity pools.

In 2015, the couple sold a hilltop estate in Belvedere overlooking San Francisco Bay for a record-breaking $47.5 million.

— Dana Bartholomew