Rihanna has come a long way since her humble beginnings in her native Barbados. The pop superstar, whose lingerie line Savage x Fenty was valued at $1 billion earlier this year, is also a real estate aficionado, having accumulated an impressive portfolio of houses in Los Angeles and Barbados. In between sales and purchases, the “Umbrella” singer has also rented several enviable properties over the years, spanning Manhattan, the Hamptons, and London.
The notoriously busy multihyphenate has been spending most of her time during the pandemic in her Century City penthouse, though that may change in the coming months following her recent purchase of two neighboring Beverly Hills mansions. “What I’ve appreciated most is having a still spirit,” she told Vogue last fall of what it’s been like to spend months at home. “Robes are my new uniform. It’s comfortable, flexible, easy.” Here, we’ve rounded up all of the mansions, penthouses, villas, and condos, our favorite Barbadian beauty has called home over the years.
2009
Rihanna first burst onto the scene as the 16-year-old prodigy of Jay-Z’s Def Jam Recordings in 2005. Four years later, she purchased a $6.9 million mansion in the coveted Beverly Hills Post Office area of Los Angeles. A few years later, she sold off the 8,520-square-foot, three-story contemporary for $5.03 million (the listing described the home as a “major fixer” with extensive moisture and water damage). The property measured three quarters of an acre, and the main house featured eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. There was also a picturesque swimming pool out back.
2012
After selling off her Beverly Hills Post Office home, Rihanna tried her luck with a stunning bluff-top Pacific Palisades mansion, which she rented for $65,000 a month. The 10,970-square-foot behemoth boasted 14-foot ceilings, a 6,000-square-foot garden, a rooftop sun deck, and seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The thing she didn’t bargain for, however, was the number of stalkers who descended upon her home. According to Curbed, after multiple trespassers were spotted on the property within the first few months of her time there, Rihanna opted to relocate to an undisclosed location. The house sold for $11.175 million in 2016.
2013
As Rihanna’s music career continued to soar, she expanded her sights to the East Coast, locking in a $50,000-a-month penthouse in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood. Spanning 7,000 square feet, with a 2,400-square-foot wraparound terrace, the ultrasleek condo occupied the two top floors of a luxury apartment complex, with a floating staircase connecting the two levels. The home featured four bedrooms and three full bathrooms, with 14-foot ceilings and views of the Empire State Building. Rihanna moved out in 2017.
Also in 2013, Rihanna decided to lay down roots in her native Barbados with the purchase of a $22 million beachside villa at One Sandy Lane, one of eight adjacent condos just down the street from the famous Sandy Lane Hotel. The impressive 10,000-square-foot pad features five en suite bedrooms, each with its own private terrace and dressing room, as well as a huge pool, a private gym, and a 24-hour concierge. The singer still owns this property, which is not too far from the five-bedroom home she bought for her mother in 2012.
2014
After dealing with stalkers at her Pacific Palisades home, Rihanna sought security behind the concrete walls of a house known within the industry as the Fortress, a stylish behemoth designed by David Lawrence Gray Architects. Perched above the Sunset Strip, the 10,000-square-foot dwelling features 40-foot ceilings, steel beams, and walls of glass; a two-bedroom guesthouse; and a notoriously phallic-shaped swimming pool. Also of note: a gourmet kitchen by Porsche Design. The singer paid $60,000 a month for the modern mansion, and moved out in 2017.
She also shelled out $5.5 million for a penthouse in the Robert A.M. Stern–designed Century Tower, where other high-profile residents include Paula Abdul, celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and Friends star Matthew Perry. The perks of condo living at the 42-story tower include a 24-hour valet, a 75-foot pool, and intense anti-paparazzi security. Rihanna still owns the condo and reportedly uses it as her main property.
2015
Though not much is known about Rihanna’s Wilshire Corridor condo, what is known is that she paid $925,000 for it in 2015, and that the 2,000-square-foot unit sits on one of the upper floors of the high-rise, likely a reaction to the stalker issues she dealt with at her Pacific Palisades house. As of early 2021, it appears that the pop star still owns the home.
2017
The same year she launched Fenty Beauty, Rihanna put down $6.8 million for a Mediterranean-style villa in the Hollywood Hills. The six-bedroom, 10-bathroom main house measures 7,130 square feet, with high ceilings and steel-framed doors throughout. A guest house turned fitness center, an infinity pool, and multiple outdoor lounge areas fill out the rest of the half acre. A year after she purchased this place, the singer faced more trespassers, and decided to put the home on the market for $7.5 million. So far, there have been no takers, and the mansion hit the rental market for $35,000 a month in August 2019.
Not all of Rihanna’s homes were meant to be long-term investments. In 2017, she also discreetly purchased a $2.75 million Spanish-style villa in West Hollywood, which she subsequently flipped right back onto the market three months later for $2.85 million.
2018
Unbeknownst to many of her fans, Rihanna decamped for London in 2018, renting a historic 19th-century house in the pricey St. John’s Wood district for approximately $25,000 a week. The eight-bedroom mansion, located just a short jaunt from the famous Abbey Road Crosswalk, measured 6,332 square feet, and included a home gym, movie theater, and enough parking space for 10 cars. The Victorian-era home hit the market in September 2020, asking $40.94 million.
2020
Rihanna splashed out on a $415,000-a-month rental in the Hamptons in the summer of 2020. According to the Observer, the singer stayed at the charming 6,140-square-foot waterfront home for just one month, from mid-July to mid-August, riding out the pandemic in the secluded privacy of the five-bedroom, six-bathroom retreat. And, fun fact: The home also happens to be the spot where Khloé and Kourtney Kardashian filmed much of their reality show back in 2014.
2021
In early 2021, Rihanna made headlines when she picked up two neighbouring Beverly Hills mansions in short order. First it was a $13.8 million contemporary-style property measuring just over 7,600 square feet and featuring five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. Next, the “Diamonds” singer bought a $10 million Tudor-esque home boasting wood beams and an oversize swimming pool and measuring 3,549 square feet. The second home has four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms. It remains to be seen what her plans are for these properties.
Feature image: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Bergdorf Goodman
This originally appeared on Architectural Digest US | Joyce Chen
