Brad Pitt buys Xasteros House and moves it to California

GironaXasteros House, designed in 1969 by the visionary Greek architect Nikolaos Xasteros, arrived at the Terra Remota winery in Sant Climent Sescebes in May 2023 and quickly became the centerpiece of the 54-hectare estate. The winery's owners, French couple Emma and Marc Bournazeau, are keen on architecture, and there's always an experimental house on display on their estate. Xasteros House is a work inspired by the space age—which is why it's also known as "the UFO house," as it evokes a spaceship—and is one of the jewels of 20th-century prefabricated architecture. Until Brad Pitt acquired it in the middle of last year, it was owned by French collector and gallery owner Clément Cividino, who rescued it from a town near Athens and restored it. Apparently, the discovery of the Xasteros House was something "uncommon" that a group of Greek architects discovered about seventeen years ago in the middle of a forest in Athens, where the structure was abandoned.

Buyer and restorer of experimental houses

This group cleaned out its interior and exhibited the Xasteros House at the 2nd Athens Biennial in 2009. However, the dwelling was once again forgotten, abandoned in the coastal village of Kalyvia Torikou, about three-quarters of an hour from the Greek capital. It was there that Cividino learned of its existence. He decided to buy it and transport it by road and sea to the port of L'Escala on a six-day journey. Cividino is a gallery owner specializing in this subject and has been working with experimental houses for 15 years, searching for them, buying them, restoring them, and selling them. For the past nine years, he has assembled and sold one each year at the Terra Remota winery. "For me, they are all important; they are all by great architects, great historical designers who marked the 20th century. They all carried out major projects in other parts of the world. They are all important in the historical and heritage sphere, both technically and aesthetically. Each one has its own uniqueness," he explains.

Cividino sold it to Brad Pitt last year after discreet negotiations, and didn't realize it was his until he was told the address where it was to be delivered. "He already has a collection of experimental homes. We've been in contact through a platform in the United States that I've been working with for about seven or eight years, and Pitt knows it very well because it's a luxury platform. Maps," explains Cividino.

Eight examples of this retro-futuristic house were made, and Cividino still has three more, awaiting restoration. These are 50 m² dwellings.² Built with fiberglass and an avant-garde design that looks like an alien spacecraft from the outside, they were originally intended to serve as simply constructed vacation homes in the countryside or near the sea. According to Cividino, "Pitt is passionate about architecture and has a collection of unique homes by international architects." Clément Cividino began in this world in 2007 and has been staging and selling a house on the Terra Remota estate each year for nine years.

"I have different types of clients, from the architecture-loving collector to entrepreneurs, among others. With experimental homes, it's something like a collector's car, which the buyer will put in the garden next to the pool, to put it in the context. We also sell in museums, and we also rent them out to larger audiences. We've rented them out twice for Milan Design Week," adds Cividino. "Before this one, I sold the last one at the Design Museum in South Korea," says Cividino.

Pitt had previously demonstrated his passion for architecture, becoming involved in projects with Frank Gehry and participating in projects such as the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple. He also became involved in initiatives such as the Make It Right Foundation, which built sustainable housing in New Orleans after Hurricane Irma. Katrina.