Taylor Swift’s Westerly, RI house
Get a look at Taylor Swift’s house from several views along the coast of Rhode Island
While Newport’s sumptuous Gilded Age mansions might be the most famous of Rhode Island’s residences, celebrity homes rank among the state’s most impressive.
The most notable is Taylor Swift’s waterfront mansion in Westerly, which has recently made headlines due to (unfounded) online speculation that she will wed football star Travis Kelce on the property.
But the pop star isn’t the only big name who owns real estate in Rhode Island. Here are nine celebrity homes located in the state.
1. Taylor Swift’s $17-million house in Westerly
Taylor Swift is arguably the most well-known of Rhode Island’s home-owning celebrities. Swift bought the Watch Hill mansion, formerly known as the “Holiday House,” in 2013. The mansion is complete with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a bedroom suite, and a past that ties it to the Standard Oil fortune. The songwriter spun the story of the house’s past – and the Standard Oil heiress who lived there, Rebekah Harkness – into the song “Great American Dynasty” from her eighth studio album, “Folklore.”
2. Conan O’Brien’s vacation home in Westerly
It’s well known around these parts that comedian Conan O’Brien is a New Englander, with a Boston, Irish Catholic background and a Harvard degree to boot. Slightly less known is that his family has a vacation home in Watch Hill, which the “Conan” host bought in 1997.
In 2014, there was a kerfuffle involving the town of Westerly putting O’Brien’s house up for auction due to him owing $8,000 in back taxes, but it was quickly resolved when the taxes were paid. O’Brien’s publicist said it was due to a clerical error. At the time, the house was worth $723,000.
These days, people sometimes spot the talk-show host walking around Westerly during the summertime.
3. Jay Leno’s $22 million mansion on Ocean Drive in Newport
Comedian Jay Leno isn’t necessarily known for being a historic mansion kind of guy, but he has one — Seafair, built in 1936 and situated on Ocean Drive in Newport.
Leno lives primarily on the West Coast, but, like Conan, he was born and raised in Massachusetts and has family on the East Coast. On a visit to Newport in 2017, he was driving with his wife along Ocean Drive when he noticed the house they had once admired 30 years ago. Leno pulled over, discovered the mansion was for sale, and bought it with everything inside for $15 million. When telling this story to a USA Today network reporter in 2019, Leno said purchasing the house along with its contents was a big selling point, as it ensured he would never have to spend time thinking about fabric swatches, which he described as a “nightmare.”
He estimated he spent only 19 days at Seafair in 2019, but when he is in town, he is often spotted out and about. He’s tested new material at the Firehouse Theatre, has attended Audrian’s Concours + Motor Week, and has been seen getting lunch downtown.
4. Matt Rife’s 80-acre home
In 2024, comedian and actor Matt Rife bought an 80-acre property, including two four-bedroom houses, in North Smithfield.
“I wanted equity in the state,” he joked in an interview with H. Foley and Kevin Ryan on their “Are You Garbage?” podcast, in response to the host remarking that 80 acres was “most of Rhode Island.”
5. Vanessa Carlton’s Architectural Digest-worthy home in Warwick
It’s not a mansion, but the 223-year-old house Vanessa Carlton bought in Warwick in 2020 is stunning.
The singer, known for her 2002 hit single “A Thousand Miles,” has been posting snapshots of her family’s Federal-style digs, constructed circa 1803, on Instagram since 2021. The singer, who owns the Pawtuxet Village home with her husband, Deer Tick front man John McCauley, closed on the house in April 2021 after seeing “the house on Zillow during the winter and deciding to go for it.” After a year of renovations, she created a truly magazine-worthy home, with a feature in Architectural Digest to prove it.
The house’s studio space — which she had to petition the City of Warwick for a variance to build — is seen in the backdrop of her announcement of her 2023 Future Pain Tour.
6. James Woods’ compound in Exeter
A Rhode Island native, 75-year-old actor James Woods still resides in his home state.
Unlike those who sought out an ocean view, Woods lives on the edge of Boone Lake in Exeter. The land, not far from the Arcadia Management Area, has been owned by his family for decades.
The property has been as controversial as the two-time Oscar nominee’s politics. He put the house up for sale in 2017, but in December he was embroiled in a conflict with the town when he challenged his neighbor’s plans to build a home on the edge of Boone Lake.
7. Christopher Walken’s vacation home on Block Island
Actor Christopher Walken keeps a relatively low profile, but he’s had a vacation home on Block Island since 1999, when he bought it for a little more than $1 million. The Oscar winner is sometimes spotted out and about in New Shoreham.
In November of 2025, he purchased another lot on the island for just over $1.4 million.
8. Richard Jenkins’ Providence home
A 2020 New Yorker article was headlined “Is Richard Jenkins the most famous person in Rhode Island?” He’s probably not the most famous person in Rhode Island – and even he disputed that premise in the New Yorker article – but the Oscar-nominated actor has been in many, many movies, more than 80.
Jenkins moved to Rhode Island to join Trinity Repertory Theatre, and he only left once — briefly — before returning. Jenkins lived in Providence, then Cumberland, now lives in Providence again.
9. Alexis DeJoria owns Ocean Lawn in Newport
As a proper Newport mansion would, Ocean Lawn, built in 1889, has 515 feet of ocean frontage, 13 bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms and one half bathroom, and his-and-hers libraries. It’s owned by professional drag racer Alexis DeJoria, daughter of John Paul DeJoria, the co-founder of the Paul Mitchell hair care products line and the Patron Spirits Company.
DeJoria bought the house in 2017.
