Liv Tyler Completely Redid This House And It's Gorgeous
If you're like us, when you picture Liv Tyler's home, you might imagine the magical woodland kingdom of Rivendell from the "Lord of the Rings" movie franchise, full of cascading waterfalls, pristine forests, and elven artwork (via IMDB). But as memorable as she was as Arwen, princess of the elves, here in the real world, Liv Tyler was a resident of Manhattan's West Village for decades (via Architectural Digest).
She often spoke about why she loved her New York neighborhood, and a great deal of it was that she could get virtually everything she needed without ever venturing further than a street or two away. "I just love how I don't even have to leave my block," she told Architectural Digest in 2019. "Mary's Fish Camp is my favorite restaurant. I grew up in Maine so I get all Maine food there. Lobster knuckles. And then going to my deli is my favorite thing. I literally go across the street and will talk to the guys there for, like, 45 minutes and get all my favorite treats."
Considering how gorgeous her four-story former home inside a Victorian brownstone is, we aren't surprised she preferred not to venture too far from home.
The renovations Tyler did were impressive
Tyler first bought the home in 2001 at the height of her career and fame (via Architectural Digest). The potential of the building is what first drew her in, and then the story of who had lived in it previously charmed her. "I had been told that three spinster sisters had lived there, which I loved," Tyler said. "Then a politician owned it. Each floor was a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, and everything historic had been taken out of it. When I found it, it was really, really, really run down. You really needed to have a vision to see what it would be—and I could just see it."
Tyler had that vision and met with architects to plan a true revival of what had once been a beautiful building. "I wanted to really honor the house and put back all the beautiful details," she said. The process required stripping the inside down to the literal brick with the exception of fixtures and pieces that could be saved. Everything else had to be re-created.
Clearly, she did a stellar job, because when Tyler decided to sell the home she'd loved for so long in the fall of 2019, it sold for an astounding $17.4 million (via Observer)! Considering she spent only a little over $2 million on the renovations, some of which she did herself by hand, we's say she could have a second career as a house flipper!