The Hollywood legend, who has deep ties to the coastal California city, lived in the gated Spanish Revival-style house during the 1980s and 1990s
In the 1980s, the famed actor and director Clint Eastwood spent two years as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, a small California vacation community. Now the century-old home where he lived during that stint is coming on the market for $21 million.
The Hollywood legend—best known for movies like “Dirty Harry,” “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Million Dollar Baby”—lived in the house in the 1980s and 1990s, according to the 2016 book “Historic Homes and Inns of Carmel-by-the-Sea.”
The seller is Frederick O’Such, a retired investor in his 80s, who bought the house overlooking the ocean from a trust tied to Eastwood in 1996, property records show. O’Such said he paid about $2.25 million for the home, and then spent another two years and $2.5 million more renovating the property.
Carmel, located about 125 miles south of San Francisco, is a coastal enclave popular with tourists and second-home owners drawn to its charming architecture and beaches; two years ago, Brad Pitt paid $40 million for a blufftop home in nearby Carmel Highlands.
Eastwood, who was born in San Francisco, has deep ties to the area, serving as mayor of Carmel from 1986 to 1988. He chose to run because the incumbent mayor was “too distant” from locals, and was so inattentive that she “used to knit during public meetings,” he told The Wall Street Journal in 2020.
Eastwood only served one term, but his famous mayoral moves included removing a prohibition on the public sale of ice cream. In the 1980s, Eastwood also bought the historic Mission Ranch to save it from development. He has since developed Teháma, a 2,000-acre residential community that includes the Teháma Golf Club. Eastwood couldn’t be reached for comment.
O’Such said he didn’t find out who owned the house until after he had seen it. He only met Eastwood once, at an event at the Teháma Golf Club.
Originally built around 1924, the Spanish Revival-style house is located a block from the ocean, said listing agent Tim Allen of Coldwell Banker Realty. Made of Carmel stone with a clay tile roof, the home is known as Las Ondas. It spans about 4,400 square feet with four bedrooms and an interior courtyard with arched windows, Allen said.
The property has a walkway to the beach off the side door, said Allen, adding that the height of the house and its soaring ceilings couldn’t be replicated today because of zoning restrictions.
The gated property is about ¼-acre, three times the typical lot size for the neighborhood, Allen said. A free-standing stone garage for two cars was built in the 1930s.
O’Such said he added a wine cellar in the home’s basement and remodeled the interior in the Arts and Crafts style, which he discovered while traveling through Europe. He also reinforced the foundation of the house to make it earthquake proof, replacing the roof and windows.
After the renovation was done, O’Such said, he and his late wife Joanne O’Such relocated to Carmel full-time from Los Altos Hills. He has entertained often, particularly in the courtyard, where there is a fire pit. “Even if it’s windy, the walls break the wind,” he said.
After Joanne’s death in 2011, O’Such married Nancy Fuhrman, who died a few months ago. “This has been a lovely house for me with both of them,” said O’Such, whose children and grandchildren love to visit the beach. But following Nancy’s death, he said he plans to move to a cottage at a nearby retirement community. “I’ll make the transition when the house is sold,” he said.
Allen said the high-end luxury market in Carmel and nearby Pebble Beach is very strong. Recent sales have been fueled by second-home buyers, many from Silicon Valley. Last year, the Butterfly House—an architecturally distinctive house with a wing-shaped roof—sold for $29 million. A home cater-cornered to O’Such’s property recently changed hands for $28 million, Allen said.