John Travolta designed this house in Maine in 1991 with his new bride, Kelly Preston, who died last year. And yesterday, he listed the property for $ 5 million.
With colorful flower-patterned wallpaper and eclectic plush sofas, the 22-room mansion looks more like what you’d expect from your great-aunt than the great John Travolta – but the welcoming and extravagant home is nothing short of captivating .
Now 67, Travolta and Preston, stars of “Grease”, who died of cancer at the age of 57 in July, transformed the “scary”, “dark” and “gloomy” historic home into the ultimate vacation space, a place to stay its 55 family members, the couple told Architectural Digest in 1999.
A ’60-day’ redecoration marathon
From the wedding and closing of the house in September to the family’s Christmas a few months later, it was a “60-day marathon” of redecoration, Travolta told AD.
They completely redesigned the 11,000-square-foot, 42-room cottage-style house, which exudes magic from its crossed windows to its large fairy-tale-themed game rooms.
“While we both have strong ideas, each of us will commit and work together in every way until we’re right,” Preston, who was known for her roles in “Jerry Maguire” and “For Love of the Game,” said of his home to AD, who compared his project to his strong marriage.
Children and family were first in the project – Preston was pregnant with her first child, Jett, at the time. (He tragically died at the age of 16 from a seizure in 2009.) They transformed the entire third floor into a “magical children’s space” with a princess room, an airplane room, a Peter Pan room, a school, a library, a cafeteria and an acting stage with props.
They redone the kitchen, refurbished old English furniture, installed a hotel-sized furnace and handpicked furniture.
“It was crazy – but really fun,” Preston told AD. After the first Christmas, they brought in interior designer Christopher B. Boshears to make the mansion more welcoming.
The pair met on the set of the 1989 film “The Experts” and had three children.
Fellow scientologist Kirstie Alley first showed them the property.
The couple kept Preston’s two-year battle with cancer a secret until after his death. Preston’s unique talent across the property makes it easy to see why the “Pulp Fiction” star would sell the house after the death of his beloved wife for nearly three decades.
Travolta was recently seen dancing with his daughter Ella, 20, in a commercial for the Miracle-Gro Super Bowl. Travolta also has a 10-year-old son, Benjamin. Travolta’s most recent appearances include the 2018 Mafia drama “Gotti” and the 2016 FX television show “American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson”.
A historic house in Bluffs
The closed house, known as the Drexel Estate, has a square tower with a steep, sloping roof. It is unique in the juxtaposition of the Tudor and tile styles, according to the National Register of Historic Places.
The house has a living room with a fireplace and a personalized bar, a dining room with a rustic original stone fireplace, a chef’s kitchen with a refrigerator, an office and a laundry room. The owner’s suite has its own porch, full bathroom with Victorian bath and separate shower, according to the listing.
The 50-acre mountain property at one of the island’s highest points is in Bluffs, where a pier provides boat access. There are open fields, gardens, woods and a large rear deck that overlooks the pool.
There is also a small farmhouse on the property where the couple stayed while renovating the house.
The house was built in 1903 by Peabody and Stearns for the Philadelphia banker and high-speed boat engineer George WC Drexel, according to the files.
Drexel died in 1944 and, although property records are irregular, John Colaprete of Virginia and Robert Longi of Hawaii owned the property when it was registered as a landmark in 1985. They may have sold the property to Travolta when he bought it in September 1991.
Travolta also owns a $ 3 million property near the Scientology headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, a home near the private Jumbolair airport in Ocala, Florida, and a $ 2.7 million mansion in Calabasas, California. He also recently sold his Brentwood mansion for $ 18 million to Scooter Braun.
Realtor Brian Wickenden of Sotheby’s International Realty did not respond to a request for comment.