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A Canadian-born folk music artist who rose to fame in the 1960s and ’70s with hits like “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock,” Joni Mitchell solidified herself as a California icon with her 1971 album Blue. By the mid-1970s, she had settled into a Spanish Colonial home in Bel Air—but the beach apparently beckoned. Mitchell ended up acquiring an oceanfront parcel in the Malibu Colony gated community and tapped architect Ron Goldman to build her a home on the land.
Today, the 4,000-square-foot retreat, which was completed in 1982, is on the market for the first time in decades. It has an asking price of just under $27 million.
Anthony Barcelo
The 4,000-square-foot home comes with an outdoor pool and spa that face the ocean.
Mitchell—who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997—has long since parted with the Cape Cod–style retreat. She offloaded the five-bedroom property in November 1988, according to information shared with ELLE Decor.
At the time, the buyer was a former Walt Disney Company board director, per People Magazine. It has remained in the same family ever since, meaning this is the first time in nearly 40 years that the home is available for purchase.
Anthony Barcelo
The living room in the main house opens to a stone-paved terrace with pool and spa.
Set on a narrow quarter-acre lot, the home takes full advantage of its waterfront setting, with expanses of glass overlooking the ocean from many of the interior spaces, especially the living room, which features a sunroom-style rear wall with sliding doors that open directly onto the stone-paved terrace. The primary suite also has a beach-facing view and comes equipped with its own private balcony.
Anthony Barcelo
The primary suite has its own ocean-facing balcony.
Among the interior hallmarks are beamed ceilings, stone floors, built-in shelving, and a corkscrew staircase linking the two levels. The grounds, meanwhile, come with a pool and spa, both of which are just feet from the sand, as well as a landscaped courtyard with mature trees and privacy hedges. The listing notes the pool arrangement is “an amenity no longer permitted under current Malibu coastal development regulations.”
The property also comes with a detached guest cottage that holds a fifth bedroom, plus a garage.
23758 Malibu Road is listed for $26.995 million with Joyce Rey and Nanette Iggulden of Coldwell Banker Realty and Jody Katz and Leona Katz of Estates and Trusts Realty.
Geoffrey Montes is an associate editor at ELLE Decor with a serious love for all things real estate and design. Before that, he worked at Architectural Digest, Galerie, and Preservation magazines, covering everything from jaw-dropping listings to world-famous architects and design events like Salone del Mobile and Homo Faber.