13th February 2024 / Prue Fletcher: Inside Taylor Swift’s Homes Through Every Era

At present, Taylor Swift owns about $95 million worth of real estate. Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Words by Joyce Chen

Over the years, Taylor Swift's homes have provided inspiration for her music, from her Rhode Island mansion to her infamous Cornelia Street rental. Now, the pop megastar has officially hit billionaire status, Forbes reported last week, making her the fourth musician on the exclusive list, and AD estimates that roughly $95 million of her fortune is real estate. Incredibly, Swift has accomplished this feat by leaning wholly into her music career, raking in an estimated $4.1 billion from her summertime Eras Tour and a jaw-dropping $92.8 million for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film this year alone.

With the rerecorded release of 1989 (Taylor's Version) and her burgeoning romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Swift's star is bigger than ever. Her influence is undeniable: She's even impacted home prices in cities where the tour has taken place. A look back at her growing real estate portfolio helps tell the story of the Pennsylvania-born singer's meteoric rise to fame.

Below, Architectural Digest recaps her purchases and sales, starting with the very first pad she bought a few years after she released her debut album, the self-titled Taylor Swift, at age 16.

2009

Swift purchased her first home at just 20 years old, a 3,240-square-foot, three-bedroom penthouse condo right in the heart of Nashville's Music Row, for $1.99 million. Swift shared in an interview with Vulture that she did the interior design herself, with an aesthetic that was described as "whimsically girlie." That same year, she also bought an additional one-bedroom unit right below hers for an undisclosed amount. The singer still owns this property.

2011

The "Wildest Dreams" singer made her move to Los Angeles following the success of her 2010 album Speak Now, and in a possible reflection of her country-to-pop transition she purchased a Cape Cod–style cottage in Beverly Hills for $3.55 million. The home, situated on nearly an acre and a half of land, featured three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. The property also included a one-bedroom, one-bathroom guesthouse, as well as a tennis court. Swift sold the residence just before embarking on her Reputation tour in May 2018, in an off-market $4 million deal.

Photo: GTCRFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo

Also in 2011, the artist picked up another home in Nashville for $2.5 million, this time in the quiet Forest Hills suburb, where celebrity neighbors include Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. The Greek Revival–style estate features four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, as well as a guesthouse adjacent to an outdoor pool. The singer reportedly purchased the home for her parents, who have lived in Nashville since she was 14, and she still owns this property.

2012

Though at the time she already had one home in Beverly Hills, Swift next expanded her portfolio with the purchase of a $1.78 million single-story midcentury-style bungalow featuring a 1,000-bottle climate-controlled wine cellar, a gourmet kitchen, a private courtyard and garden, and a pool. The sleek, retro home featured built-in shelving, skylights, high ceilings, and entire walls of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. Swift ultimately sold the dwelling for $2.65 million toward the end of 2018.

2013

Swift's Rhode Island mansion is visible in the distance of this photo taken during tropical storm Henri in 2021. Photo: Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Swift's infamous Fourth of July parties with her squad were often hosted at her stunning seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom Rhode Island home on Watch Hill, overlooking the Block Island Sound and Montauk Point, and it is easy to see why. The singer purchased the gorgeous 12,000-square-foot home for $17.75 million in 2013. In April of 2019, Swift and the house made headlines when a teenager crashed a stolen car into the front gate as he was being pursued by police. The Grammy winner's response to the incident? "Nothing good starts in a getaway car," she commented on an Instagram post about the news, referencing the lyrics from a song called "Getaway Car" on her album reputation. In 2020, the singer referenced the storied history of the property in a song called "the last great american dynasty" on her album folklore.

2014

Photo: Evan Joseph

The following year, Swift purchased two penthouses on a cobblestone street in NYC's tony Tribeca neighborhood, combining them to create one large 8,309-square-foot condo with 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Swift paid $20 million for the abode, which was previously owned by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. (The singer moved into a rental apartment in the West Village while construction was underway—more on that below.) This pad features 12-foot beamed ceilings, exposed brick, a stylish marble kitchen, and multiple wraparound terraces that add an extra 6,000 square feet to the already spacious duplex. Swift still owns this property.

2015

Photo: Nick Springett

Swift's next real estate purchase was a big one: she splashed out $25 million for a 10,982-square-foot landmarked mansion in Beverly Hills. The luxurious Georgian Revival estate has seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and previously belonged to Hollywood legend Samuel Goldwyn. In addition, there is a two-room guest apartment on the premises, as well as a tennis court, pool, and poolhouse. In 2017, the superstar reportedly added a six-and-a-half-foot-high cinder block wall around the premises of the home, as well as a seven-foot-high retaining wall by the tennis court in order to ensure the utmost privacy. The star still owns this piece of Old Hollywood glamour.

2016

Inside Swift's former rental property Photo: 2022 VHT Studios All rights reserved

While her Tribeca property was under construction, Swift famously rented a charming West Village carriage house on Cornelia Street for $39,500 a month. The four-bedroom, seven-bathroom town house spanned three stories and stretched 21-feet wide, measuring a total of roughly 5,500 square feet. The charming property included an arched wooden garage door with iron detailing, flanked by two matching side entry doors. Inside, the pad offered amenities such as a 30-foot-long indoor swimming pool, an adjacent lounge area with a fireplace, and a small garden patio. Built in 1870, the residence inspired Swift's song "Cornelia Street" on her 2019 album Lover. Following Swift's tenancy, it was converted into an immersive showroom space by a luxury Italian furniture brand in 2019 before being put back on the market in May 2023 for just under $18 million.

2017

Photo: Evan Joseph

Swift next became her own neighbor when she dropped $18 million on a Tribeca town house right next door to her double penthouse. The three-floor dwelling was built in 1915 and fully renovated by architect and designer Leopoldo Rosati in 2011. All aspects of the residence are top-tier, with a custom steel staircase that leads from the first to second floor, a private terrace surrounded by a Japanese paper glass wall, and a spacious main suite on the third floor with a limestone bathroom, private wet bar, and dual dressing rooms. On the townhouse's lower level is a home theater, gym, steam bath, and bar, as well as a guest suite with a private bathroom and separate entrance. Swift still owns this property.

2018

Swift was spotted on the streets of Manhattan in October 2023. Photo: MEGA / Getty Images

The following year, the "Red" singer snapped up a $9.75 million apartment in the same building, bringing her total real-estate holdings on this one Tribeca block to an estimated $47.7 million. Swift purchased the second-floor 3,540-square-foot apartment from financier Jeremy Phillips, and it's safe to assume that this unit shares the same industrial aesthetic as the two penthouse units she purchased in 2014, with high-beamed ceilings, cast-iron columns, and exposed brick walls.

2021

Though Swift largely aimed to keep her relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn under wraps, it was reported that the pair set up camp in an $8.3 million town house in London's fashionable Primrose Hill neighborhood. It's unclear whether the singer or the actor owned the property or rented it, though multiple reports pointed to the pair living there together for much of their relationship, which fizzled out at the start of 2023. It should be noted, however, that the couple also reportedly hunkered down at Alwyn's Crouch End apartment during the early part of the pandemic.

Source: www.architecturaldigest.com