Friday, December 14, 2012

Gerard Depardieu Lists Parisian Hôtel Particular

SELLER: Gerard Depardieu
LOCATION: Paris, France
PRICE: somewhere in the neighborhood of €50,000,000
SIZE: 19,375 square feet, 10 bedrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Although we first heard this a couple days ago from an informant we'll call Pepe Le Pew, a nasty, frustrating and ongoing tangle with our internet service provider has put us well behind the eight ball as regards to the international celebrity real estate news that Golden Globe winning and Oscar-nominated French actor Gerard Depardieu (Green Card, Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean de Florette), has hoisted his super-sized 19th-century hôtel particular in the swank 6th arrondisement of Paris on the open market with an asking price rumored to be somewhere in the neighborhood of €50,000,000. A quick consult with Your Mama's currency conversion contraption shows that's a backbone straightening $65,362,000, at today's rates.

So the stories go, the wealthy 64-year old actor, filmmaker and entrepreneur has allegedly already pulled up stakes and moved to a tiny town in Belgium in order to avoid the temporary but painfully high 75% top tax rate set to take effect in France next year.

Global celebrity gossips say the once dashing now—well—less dashing actor has already decamped to the small town of Néchin, about 150 north of Paris and just 800 yard over the French-Belgian border, a tax avoiding relocation that France's Socialist president François Hollande called a "shabby" maneuver and the Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called "rather pathetic."

Just to be clear, as Your Mama understands it, the dramatically high rate applies to annual revenues in excess of €1,000,000, about 1,300,000 U.S. dollars at today's rates. "The highest marginal tax rate on the first $1.3 million would be 45 percent," according to an October report in the New York Times. That means if a resident of France earns €999,999 their tax rate tops out at 45%. President Hollande has said, according the New York Times article, that the higher rate was "a largely symbolic measure that will affect only a few thousand individuals." Anyhoo... 

We don't know how to check property records in France but recent reports out of France reveal the much lauded and applauded actor actually acquired the property in 1994 for 25,000,000 (pre-euro) French francs, an amount then equal to about $4,614,670 (US). We're not able to check property records in France but

Mister Depardieu's Parisian pied a terre comprises two separate structures, according to listing information, with a total of 10 bedrooms in around 1,800 square meters of interior space. That's right around 19,375 square feet. The historic part of Monsieur Depardieu's humongous house—dubbed the Hôtel de Chambon—was built in 1820 for and named after the Baron de Chambon. Monsieur Depardieu acquired it in 2003 for an unknown sum. His original plans called for a 1.5 renovation—that's just under two million U.S. clams at today's rates—that would provide office space for his film production company as well as several apartments for family and friends. At some point Monsieur Depardieu switched gears and began to convert the bulk of the residence to a luxury boutique hotel that was scheduled to open sometime in 2013.

A private garden separates the hôtel from Monsieur Depardieu's much more contemporary private living quarters. The multi-level abode's primary living space is an especially cavernous, loft-like main room with living, dining and cooking areas. There are at least two bedrooms and—very rare in central Paris—a private indoor swimming pool in the basement. The children will note the elaborately florid fretwork on stairs and over the exterior windows.

Mister Depardieu is not the only wealthy Frenchman said to have (allegedly) left France in order to avoid the sky-high taxes. Both superstar singer Johnny Hallyday and Old Timey French actor Alain Delon have long lived in Switzerland and multi-billionaire Bernard Arnault—he-rah of the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) multi-national luxury goods conglomeration—was raked over the coals by the media last year when it became public he'd requested Belgian citizenship. Monsieur Arnault has denied the change in citizenship was requested due to tax reasons and, indeed, he sued one newspaper for public insult for making such a claim.

listing photos: Daniel Féau

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Swiss taxes are high, but they get more bang for their bucks?

Anonymous said...

How the hell did he earn enough money to buy that? Does he come from money? His wife? He has not had that successful a career. If he can afford that then Tom Cruise should be able to buy a $500 million house.

l'il gay boy said...

To be reasonable, he did buy it almost 20 years ago...

With almost 200 roles that stretch back to the early '70s, even a drunken lout would have a hard time pissing all that away...

...now pissing on an airplane is another story entirely:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20519658,00.html

It is, at the very least, a visually stunning & highly imaginative space in the middle of Paris.

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Unknown said...

for those who care the address is 95 Rue Cherche Midi in the Paris 6th.

1 BHK Flat in Delhi NCR said...
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Anonymous said...

Mama, you need to remove these Indian ads from your blog. Now as for Monsieur Depardieu (Vaya Con Dios in French?) one hopes his move doesn't screw up his life as such actions often do. Anyway he seems determined to leave France with his money or some of it just to escape some taxes that will likely be temporary. The US used to have a top tax rate of 90% under Eisenhower but I don't recall the Rockefellers and Mellons, et. alia picking up and leaving as a result. In any case France doesn't really need this has-been actor and his money that isn't all that much in the larger picture of things.

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Anonymous said...

The poor bastard! As European i can tell you that this moving is like moving from New York to rural West Virginia. All just to pay a little less taxes.

Anonymous said...

"Swiss taxes are high, but they get more bang for their bucks"

Rubbish! Swiss taxes are famously low. Federal tax tops out at 11% then Canton tax is anywhere from 6% to a max of 18% depending where in Switzerland you live.

That's why many wealthy French, Brits, Scandinavians, Italians etc live in boring Switzerland.

Anonymous said...

10:27 I don't have exact figures but I suspect the number of tax exiles is not all that many. And some like Piasecka (sp?) Johnson go to Monaco or Luxembourg or the Bahamas. The rich of the world would like you to think they will all just flee the minutes their taxes go up; not all that many actually do.

Anonymous said...

If'n you look at the place on Google Earth it appears to be undergoing renovation or something. Of course one doesn't know how long ago exactly Google street view was done. Anyhoo, the place is not in a terribly fashionable part of Paris. Ok, but not the 7th or 8th arrondissement. Departdieu evidently occupied it only "from time to time"; he is quoted thusly:
J’y habite de temps en temps… Mais je ne sais pas encore ce que je vais en faire. Ce n’est en tous cas pas un lieu pour faire la fête, au contraire, plutôt pour méditer, avoir des conversations. Dans toute maison, il y a un endroit où on lit, où on peut penser. C’est l’espace, l’occupation de l’espace, qui m’intéresse. La fête, c’est fermé, comme un ventre dans lequel tous les vices se forment et se déforment. Là, au contraire, c’est la pureté, c’est affronter cette vérité qui peut sortir de nous, avec nos vices et nos puretés. Le thème qui a guidé ce lieu, c’est le passage du temps. Avant de prendre possession de ce lieu, il faut se connaître et bien s’apprivoiser. Même moi qui suis cuisinier, il m’a fallu du temps pour apprivoiser cette cuisine. Trouver la place d’un objet, d’une pensée, d’une liberté, ça prend du temps."

El Roy 13 said...

If I were rich, I'd buy it. It's incredible.

Unknown said...
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Anonymous said...

7th is not a fashionable part of Paris?! My dear, that is where the old aristocracy lives!

With some nouveau riches here and there, e.g. Bernard Arnault in the Invalides Quarter.

Anonymous said...

Agree with December 14, 2012 2:12 PM. He has a lot of money for some fatso who spent most of his career working in French films which don't pay as well as their american counterparts.

Anonymous said...

2:02 This place is in the 6th, not the 7th. I was saying it was ok but not as good as the 7th or 8th and I am quite aware that the 7th is top notch.

Areeba Khan said...
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Anonymous said...

Note: When the US had a 90 percent tax rate, there were lots of loopholes to escape through. The effective rate was roughly 45 percent, or pretty much what they are now if you live in California or New York.

Also, temporary taxes have a way of becoming permanent. As a California resident I can attest to that.

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Anonymous said...

So tiresome to hear selfish rich people always complaining about taxes and how abused they are to have to pay them. They should lower their incomes to the point where they don't have to pay any taxes and be happy that way. Lotsa luck.

Anonymous said...

" Of course one doesn't know how long ago exactly Google street view was done."

Actually, it says at the bottom - Image date: February 2009.

Anonymous said...

Hate to get all political, but this is a perfect example that if you tax hard enough, the rich just move. you cant force them to stay, or for that matter to own real estate.

Anonymous said...

Well they can't move their houses. so tax the houses. Taxes have caused very few people to move. Some do; not missed. Is the US suffering because Barbara Johnson moved to Monaco or Marc Rich moved to Switzerland? NO. So let them hop anywhere they want if they think that will make them happier and more able to clutch in miserly fashion their money to their bosom. If high taxes made all the rich move, Sweden would be people-less. Of course the rich would love you to get all in a panic because they might go somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

Actually, it says at the bottom - Image date: February 2009.

On my street view it says simply 2009 but it is so faint it can hardly be seen. What is very clear is "copyright Google 2012". So the Google view is probably when he was renovating the place?

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