Hollywood legend Diane Keaton‘s beloved “house that Pinterest built” was quietly taken off the market just two weeks before her “unexpected” death at the age of 79—and six months after the “Annie Hall” star had listed it for $28.9 million.
Keaton died on Oct. 11 in California, with law enforcement sources confirming to People that they responded to the actress’ home shortly after 8 a.m. and transported a 79-year-old woman to the hospital.
In a statement to the outlet, a spokesperson for Keaton—who had two adopted children, daughter Dexter, 29, and son Duke, 25—confirmed her passing, but did not reveal any details about her cause of death.
“There are no further details available at this time, and her family has asked for privacy in this moment of great sadness,” the statement said.
Shortly after the news of her death was revealed, Keaton’s longtime friend, songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, shed some light on the actress’ declining health, revealing that she had been shocked by the on-screen star’s appearance when she saw her just a few weeks before her passing.
“I saw her two or three weeks ago, and she was very thin,” Sager told People. “She had lost so much weight.”
Another unnamed source close to the actress added, “She declined very suddenly, which was heartbreaking for everyone who loved her. It was so unexpected, especially for someone with such strength and spirit.”
“In her final months, she was surrounded only by her closest family, who chose to keep things very private. Even longtime friends weren’t fully aware of what was happening.”
Tributes to Keaton poured in from around the world—with multiple Hollywood stars expressing their grief over her loss, including her former partner, director Woody Allen, who described her as being “unlike anyone the planet has experienced” in an essay published by The Free Press.
“When we first met, I thought she was so charming, so beautiful, so magical, that I questioned my sanity. I thought: Was it possible to fall in love so quickly?” he wrote.
While Keaton had several high-profile romances with the likes of Allen, Al Pacino, and Warren Beatty, she never married, a decision she celebrated in 2019, when she told People that she was “glad” to have remained unwed.
“Today I was thinking about [marriage]. I’m 73 and I think I’m the only one in my generation, and maybe before, who has been a single woman all her life,” she said.
“I’m really glad I didn’t [get married], and I’m sure [my former partners] are happy about it, too,” she joked.
Keaton added that her opposition to marriage extended to her childhood: “I remember one day in high school, this guy came up to me and said, ‘One day you’re going to make a good wife.’ And I thought, ‘I don’t want to be a wife. No.'”
Throughout her career, Keaton moved multiple times, developing a love of purchasing older homes, renovating them, and then selling them.
However, when she found her latest abode, she explained that it was the first time she had considered actually settling down for more than a few years.
Keaton spent a staggering eight years on a gut renovation of the home, which effectively saw her rebuilding it from the ground up, a process that she documented in her 2017 book, “The House That Pinterest Built.”
The book focused on Keaton’s newfound love of the photo-sharing site and how it helped to inspire her creativity when it came to the design of the dwelling’s interior. The renovation also ended up becoming even more poignant for Keaton as time went on.
While discussing the release of the book, Keaton spoke about how much she had grown to love the home, conceding in one interview that she had struggled to ever find a property that truly felt like a place she could live forever—that is until she came across the Sullivan Canyon abode.
She explained to Wine Spectator that she has always had “an interest in homes and the concept of home,” but noted that she had always struggled to “land and stay” because she always found something wrong with the property.
In the case of her Sullivan Canyon house, however, something was different.
“Something’s right, because I love it,” the actress said, calling the property her “dream home.”
The “Annie Hall” star revealed that her purchase of the property was inspired by her love of “The Three Little Pigs,” which her mother read to her when she was a child—and which cemented her dream of living in a brick home when she grew up.
Although the home is located in Los Angeles, Keaton explained that much of the design was inspired by her former New York City apartment, a historical space located in a 1930s beaux arts building, which she moved into in the 1970s.
“It was one of those remarkable apartments,” she said. “There was a window on every side. Everything was wide open. That was the beginning of my true interest in architecture.”
The listing for Keaton’s five-bedroom, seven-bathroom 1920s-era home highlighted her painstaking renovation process—and the incredible attention paid to detail.
“Nestled in prestigious Sullivan Canyon, this grand private and gated estate is a visual treasure trove, where every corner reveals a multitude of intricate details designed to captivate and inspire,” it noted. “The sprawling brick structure exudes timeless elegance, enhanced by reclaimed features that pay homage to classic craftsmanship while embracing modern sophistication.”
When Keaton finished the home renovation, having been first introduced to Pinterest by her longtime collaborator, director Nancy Meyers, she moved in with her children and the family’s golden retriever, Emma.
Both of her children have largely stayed out of the spotlight, with Keaton explaining to People magazine in 2007: “They have no interest in what I do, which I think is very healthy. We live a relatively normal—well, sort of normal—life.”
Keaton adopted both of her kids after moving back to Los Angeles from New York in the 1980s, having admitted that she didn’t initially think motherhood was something she would ever be ready for.
“I didn’t think that I was ever going to be prepared to be a mother,” she told Ladies’ Home Journal in 2008. “Motherhood was not an urge I couldn’t resist, it was more like a thought I’d been thinking for a very long time. So I plunged in.”
But far from creating a more traditional family home for her children, Keaton built multiple, buying up a number of homes—including several midcentury modern treasures that were designed by architect Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright.
The first home she snapped up after she returned to the West Coast in the late 1980s was the Samuel-Novarro house, a property designed by Wright in 1928. She overhauled the home, taking steps to carefully restore much of the original work, before selling it just five years later.
In 2007, she purchased another of Wright’s homes in the Pacific Palisades, carrying out an incredible restoration of the abode to restore its original glory.
Records indicate that she sold the dwelling in 2010. However, the property was most recently listed in February of this year, before being taken off the market a few months later.
Although her most recent property purchase did not have the same historical architectural pedigree as some of her other residences, Keaton transformed it into a unique abode that the listing described as a “feast for the senses.”
“The estate’s rich textures, thoughtful design elements, and bespoke accents make it not just a residence but a work of art—an extraordinary sanctuary where home meets artistry in perfect harmony,” it said.
Spanning more than 9,200 square feet on a 0.65-acre lot, the home boasts multiple fireplaces, an outdoor pool, soaring ceilings, and a guesthouse.
It is unclear what prompted Keaton to take the house off the market. However, she had reduced her asking price to $27.5 million just a few weeks after listing it.
Property records indicate that the home is still listed under a trust with Keaton’s real name, Diane Hall.
