Hollywood stars Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes chose a unique rustic estate in California as their family home in 2014. They bought a property originally built by the late film director Joel Schumacher using reclaimed wood from three 200-year-old barns.
The actors, who keep their family life with their two daughters very private, bought the secluded estate to create a quieter home away from central Los Angeles. According to Architectural Digest, the property stands out because of its unusual design and history. It was built using old materials brought from across the United States. Schumacher, the director behind hit films such as Batman Forever and The Lost Boys, first had the home built as a private retreat in Carpinteria, California.
He wanted the property to reflect American history while offering complete privacy in a natural setting.
Historical timber and rustic construction
The main feature of the California estate is its wooden frame, made from heavy beams salvaged from three 200-year-old barns in Ohio. Schumacher worked with interior designer Don Kapambwe and architect Philip Glenn to create a home that made these historic materials the centre of its design. In a detailed feature published by Architectural Digest in June 2003, the magazine explained how the design team transported the large, hand-cut oak and pine beams across the country before putting them together at the site.
The finished home has high ceilings with exposed wooden supports, wide plank floors and stone fireplaces made from local river rocks. The main house was designed to connect its indoor spaces directly with the surrounding forest and coastal landscape. Large glass windows, plain plaster walls and rough stone surfaces work with the dark, weathered wood. Together, these features give the interior the feel of a traditional country lodge rather than a typical Hollywood mansion.
Schumacher's vision for a private retreat
For Schumacher, who died in 2020, the property offered a quiet escape from the busy schedule of making major films. In a 2003 interview with Architectural Digest, the director explained that he wanted a home that would help him feel close to nature. "I wanted something that felt like it had been here forever," Schumacher said during the 2003 interview, explaining why he chose reclaimed historic timber. "It was important to build a home that felt organic to the land, rather than dropping a modern structure into the middle of the trees.
" The estate covers several acres and is surrounded by mature trees, horse-riding trails and coastal hills. Along with the main house, the grounds include guest accommodation, outdoor dining patios and a swimming pool designed to fit naturally into the landscape.
Departure from central Los Angeles
Gosling and Mendes bought the Carpinteria property in 2014 as part of a planned move away from Los Feliz, the busy Los Angeles neighbourhood where they had previously lived.
Architectural Digest reported that the couple wanted a more private and secure place to raise their young children, away from paparazzi attention. Their purchase reflected a wider trend among famous actors looking for privacy in places such as Carpinteria, Montecito and Ojai, all a short drive north of Los Angeles.
Mendes has spoken publicly about her preference for a simple family life built around everyday routines rather than red-carpet events.
Property records confirm that the couple continued to expand their real estate holdings in quieter parts of Southern California. They focused on properties with large areas of land and natural barriers that offered privacy, rather than traditional estates in Beverly Hills or Bel-Air.
Long-term appeal of reclaimed design
Using wood salvaged from historic barns has become more common in high-end American home design. However, Schumacher's property was an early example of this style in Coastal California.
Finding and using 200-year-old timber required skilled workers to take apart, treat and rebuild the wooden frames without weakening their structure. Architectural historians note that old oak and pine have a density and rich, aged appearance that new wood cannot easily match.
Reclaimed timber also helps preserve early American building methods. These include mortise and tenon joints, which connect pieces of wood using shaped sections and holes, held together with wooden pegs instead of metal nails. Gosling and Mendes have kept ownership of the property. They have preserved its original design features while maintaining the privacy Schumacher intended the estate to provide.