After more than 40 years living in New York, Willem Dafoe quietly swapped city life for the Roman countryside. It turns out his property journey is just as wild and unpredictable as his film career.
Best known for roles in Platoon, Spider-Man, The Lighthouse and Poor Things, Dafoe has appeared in more than 150 films since the 1980s.
Along the way, he’s worked with directors like Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese and Yorgos Lanthimos, earning multiple Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.
For decades, Manhattan was home, but eventually Dafoe decided to slow things down. From experimental architecture to rustic farmhouses and alpacas, his homes tell a story of someone constantly searching for balance.
The Rubber House: weird, wonderful, and very Dafoe
Not much is known about where Dafoe lived before the late 1980s, but things got interesting in 1988. Like many New Yorkers desperate for fresh air, he headed north to the Hudson Valley.
His first major purchase was the Rubber House in Accord, New York. Built in 1981 by Tom Pritchard for choreographer Eugene Loring, the house was anything but ordinary.
It was built around five massive boulders and wrapped entirely in dark grey neoprene, which also helped with sound quality inside.
The interior matched the futuristic exterior, featuring floor-to-ceiling glass, a geometric fireplace and Loring’s original mirrored dance studio with a ballet barre. Despite initially hating it, Dafoe slowly fell for the place.
“I was looking for a house upstate, something rustic, like an old farmhouse,” he told Interview magazine. “This was the first place my real estate agent took me to see, and I was annoyed because the Rubber House was clearly not what I had said I was looking for.”
Over time, that frustration turned into fascination. “Visit by visit, I was seduced, and I finally bought it,” he said. What really sold him was how the house blended with nature rather than fighting it. “The inside looks out, and the outside looks in,” he explained.
Dafoe sold the house in 2008, but its legacy lives on. The Rubber House is now available on Airbnb for around $877 per night, for anyone fancying a very surreal getaway.
Manhattan years: co-ops, penthouses, and serious price tags
In 2005, Dafoe bought a Lower East Side co-op with his son Jack. The Art Deco, prewar apartment had two bedrooms, high ceilings, hardwood floors and more storage than most New York flats dare to dream of.
The pair held onto the property until 2016, when it sold for $860,000, well above the asking price. At the same time, Dafoe was also buying a place for himself across town.
That same year, he purchased a two-bedroom co-op in Manhattan’s West Village for $1.6 million. Shortly after, he married Italian actress and director Giada Colagrande. The apartment featured exposed brick, a wood-burning fireplace, built-in bookshelves and a classic eat-in kitchen.
Dafoe lived there until 2014, when the apartment sold for $2.9 million. Instead of downsizing, he went the opposite direction. That year, he bought a two-bedroom penthouse for just under $4 million in a converted factory building.
With 12-foot ceilings, arched windows and another wood-burning fireplace, the loft offered serious character. Dafoe still owns the property today, proving he never fully cut ties with New York.
The farmhouse dream finally comes true
After selling the Rubber House, Dafoe finally bought what he originally wanted. In 2008, he snapped up a modest 1920s farmhouse in Ulster County, around 90 miles north of Manhattan.
At the time, the area was attracting celebrities like Daniel Craig, Uma Thurman and the Olsen twins. Dafoe’s property started at just one acre, but he later bought an extra 4.7 acres, turning it into a full-blown rural retreat.
The 1,800-square-foot home featured three bedrooms, two bathrooms, wide plank floors, a fireplace, a claw-foot tub and a cosy kitchen with a wooden banquette. There was also a barn, apple trees and a writer’s cabin on the land.
In 2023, Dafoe listed the property for $1.3 million, officially closing the chapter on his upstate New York era.
Life in Italy with alpacas
After nearly 150 films and four decades in New York, Dafoe decided he wanted something slower. Speaking in a 2019 interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan, he explained the move.
“I lived in New York for over 40 years, I married an Italian, she didn’t want to give up living in Rome, and I had no objections,” he said.
While the exact timing is unclear, Dafoe met Colagrande in Italy in 2004 and they married within a year. Sometime after that, they bought an alpaca farm outside Rome. The property is home to turkeys, chickens, sheep, goats and 14 alpacas.
In 2023, Dafoe’s Poor Things co-star Mark Ruffalo visited the farm and shared a photo that racked up more than 1.5 million likes.
From neon city lights to rural Italy and alpacas, Willem Dafoe’s housing journey is exactly as unexpected as you’d expect.
Featured image credit: Kalai Ramu / Wikiportraits
