Actress Jessica Capshaw and her husband, Christopher Gavigan, sold their longtime Santa Monica home for $5.75 million in 2020. The sale was completed through an off-market deal, according to the Los Angeles Times.The couple had bought the house in 2007 through a limited liability company for $3.05 million, property records showed. The buyer in the 2020 sale was a limited liability company tied to Texas billionaire Dan Friedkin.The property is a 1927-built Spanish Colonial-style home in Santa Monica’s North of Montana neighbourhood. The main house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms and sits on a tree-lined street.During Capshaw and Gavigan’s ownership, the property underwent a major renovation. The couple restored the main house from the ground up and also changed the use of an old detached garage, turning it into a separate guesthouse.The couple also redesigned parts of the outdoor space, adding a narrow swimming pool, decking, an outdoor banquette and a volcanic fire pit. The backyard used eco-friendly synthetic grass, while the guesthouse was designed as an environmentally friendly addition to the property.
An eco-friendly guesthouse
The original detached two-car garage was demolished and replaced with a 950-square-foot guesthouse, according to Architectural Digest. The one-bedroom, one-bathroom guesthouse was Greenguard-certified, Variety reported.The guesthouse included a high-ceilinged living room with skylights. It also had a ladder leading to a loft area and four French doors painted in a rustic grey-blue shade.The outdoor area was also designed around the couple’s approach to sustainability. It included a synthetic grass lawn, succulents and other warm-weather plants. A rectangular saltwater pool sat at one end of the backyard, with a wooden deck around it.A wide built-in banquette was placed near the pool. Between the main house and guesthouse, the couple had an outdoor dining area under several olive trees. A fire pit was also part of the backyard.
The couple also redesigned parts of the outdoor space, adding a narrow swimming pool, decking, an outdoor banquette and a volcanic fire pit
Sustainability with style
The main house retained its four-bedroom, four-bathroom layout after the renovation. A 2011 profile in Cambria Style magazine also highlighted the use of sustainably harvested Brazilian wood from Washington State for the floors.Capshaw spoke about the balance between sustainability and appearance in that profile. “I embrace the idea that we have to live sustainably,” Capshaw told the publication. “But I am also eternally about aesthetics and things looking beautiful.”The couple also used salvaged or recycled materials for most of the furnishings in the house. Their restoration therefore changed the property while keeping sustainability as part of the design.The renovation had taken place several years before the couple eventually sold the house. By 2020, the restored property had become a significantly different home from the one they bought in 2007.
Sale after 13 years of ownership
Capshaw and Gavigan’s purchase price was $3.05 million in 2007. Thirteen years later, they sold the property for $5.75 million.The 2020 transaction was not publicly listed. The Los Angeles Times reported that the sale was completed off-market, based on information from real estate sources who were not authorised to comment publicly on the deal.The buyer was linked to Dan Friedkin, a billionaire from Houston. Architectural Digest also reported that the property was sold to Friedkin in the off-market transaction.Capshaw was 43 when the sale was reported. She is known for playing Dr Arizona Robbins on “Grey’s Anatomy”. Her other acting credits include “The Practice” and “The L Word”.She is the daughter of actress-producer Kate Capshaw and the stepdaughter of filmmaker Steven Spielberg.Gavigan, who was 45 at the time, was a co-founder of the Honest Co., a health-oriented lifestyle brand. He served as its chief product officer and had co-founded the company in 2012 with Jessica Alba, Brean Lee and Sean Kane.By the time the Santa Monica house was sold, the couple had moved on to another property. Architectural Digest reported that they lived in a newly built 10,000-square-foot residence in Pacific Palisades, which they had bought for $10 million in 2015.
