Richard Gere Picks Up Paul Simon’s Connecticut Spread

It’s no secret that married musicians Paul Simon and Edie Brickell lost a small fortune, $5.7 million to be exact, when they sold their longtime estate in New Canaan, Conn., earlier this year for $10.8 million; the sale was widely reported in property gossip columns across the country, including this one.

What has gone unreported, however, is that tax records now reveal the new owner of the uncommonly picturesque 32-acre spread is a uniquely named trust long tied to 72-year-old actor and humanitarian Richard Gere.

Immaculately maintained but in need of some updating, the stately main residence was designed by architect Harold Reeve Sleeper and completed in 1938. Set on a high point, where it overlooks rolling hills and a private pond, the roughly 8,800-square-foot whitewashed brick Georgian pile is framed by lush, overgrown greenery.

Baronially scaled living and entertaining spaces include a center hall foyer, which stretches to more than 30 feet long, a 750-square-foot living room, as well as an even larger lower-level family room, and an over-sized mud room between the three-car garage and the roomy eat-in kitchen.

With six bedrooms and eight bathrooms plus three powder rooms across the mansion’s three floors, there’s certainly room to accommodate the 72-year-old “American Gigolo” star’s growing family; he has two toddler-age kids with his third wife, Spanish activist Alejandra Silva. Each of the bedrooms has a private bath, while the primary suite boasts two bathrooms along with a fireplace, more than half a dozen closets and large terrace with sweeping views.

The park-like grounds include a simple rectangular swimming pool surrounded by plush lawn and a series of formal gardens and walled courtyards. In the woods, at a distance to the main house, there’s also a 2400-square-foot cottage with three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms along with its own gated entrance and garage. Simon and Brickell used the cottage as a recording studio but its easily converted to guest quarters or a residence for staff.

The estate was listed with Taylor Tait and Libby Mattson of Houlihan Lawrence, while Gere was represented by Bruce Baker of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty.

Simon and Brickell still own at least three other impressive residences, a duplex apartment on New York’s Upper West Side, a seclude 30-acre oceanfront compound in the Hamptons and a ten-acre spread on the semi-rural outskirts of Dallas.

As for Gere, he’s is no stranger to vast estates. Last year he shelled out almost $10 million for a 26-acre estate in tony North Salem, about 60 miles north of Manhattan, and he long presided over a 49-acre compound in nearby Pound Ridge, which was recently sold after it was listed for a whopping $28 million.

The “Chicago” star, who most recently appeared in the psycho-thriller TV miniseries “MotherFatherSon,” also previously owned Strongheart Manor, a 6.3-acre waterfront compound in the North Haven area of the Hamptons that he sold to former “Today Show’ host Matt Lauer in 2016 for $33.75 million. Though records don’t yet reflect a transfer of ownership, Lauer reportedly sold the property earlier this year after three years on and off the market.