After more than a year on the market, Stephen Dorff has sold his beachfront residence in Malibu, Calif., for $7.5 million. The third season “True Detective” co-star accepted nearly half a million dollars below the last asking price of $7.98 million and close to $1 million under the original, pie-in-the-sky price of $8.45 million. Nonetheless, Dorff is still coming out smelling like a real estate rose having just about tripled his money on the property after he scooped it up in late 2001 for $2.546 million.
Next door to a 1930s cottage briefly owned by both Ryan Murphy and Charlize Theron, Dorff’s boxy, shingle-clad two-story residence was designed in 1968 by the acclaimed architecture firm Buff and Hensman. The house is also described in marketing materials as a “preserved,” “architectural tour-de-force” that presides over 40 feet of sandy beach frontage on La Costa Beach with three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,376 square feet.
Dorff installed an awkward but easily removed freestanding sauna hut in the faux-grassed courtyard entry, which leads to a two-story wall of glass that in turn gives way to a voluminous, double-height foyer large enough to accommodate a baby grand piano and a groovy spiral staircase. Beyond the entrance galley, an updated but not especially high-end galley kitchen is open to the living room alongside a double-height dining area and a two-story wall of glass. The area then steps down to a cozy, shag-carpeted living room, which features a fireplace surrounded by a thin strip of stainless steel and a built-in media cabinet that discreetly hides the television. Both the living and dining areas spill out through broad banks of glass sliders to a spacious deck that hovers just above the sand and offers sweeping beach, ocean and coastline views. Upstairs, a lofted lounge/office area overlooks the lower level living spaces and leads to two guest bedrooms and a bathroom in addition to a shag-carpeted master bedroom with floor-to-ceiling sliders and a slim private deck.
The property was listed with Robert Morton, F. Ron Smith and David Berg, all of Smith & Berg Partners, an affiliate of Compass, while Branden Williams and Rayni Williams at Hilton & Hyland represented the buyer.
With an appearance in the upcoming indie pic “Embattled” and the upcoming TV series “Deputy,” Dorff also sold a one-bedroom and two-bathroom penthouse with a private roof terrace in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood about two years ago for $2.7 million, ten percent below its original $3 million price tag and notably above its final ask of $2.399 million.
