Supermodel Karlie Kloss and her venture-capitalist husband, Joshua Kushner, have purchased Malibu’s iconic Wave House for $29.5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The unique midcentury home was designed in 1957 by the late surf-loving architect Harry Gesner, for a local couple. In June of last year, the estate of former owner Mo Ostin—a prominent music executive for Warner Bros. Records who oversaw the label when superstars like Jimi Hendrix, Prince, and Madonna were being signed—put the house on the market for $49.5 million. Ostin died in 2022.
The beachfront dwelling is famously known for its wave-like shape (and rumored to also have been the inspiration behind the design of Sydney Opera House). Gesner told AD in 2008 that his inspiration for the home’s curved roof came via the beauty of a cresting wave. “I paddled out in front of the site and designed it with a grease pencil on the deck of my surfboard,” he said. Genser achieved the roof’s distinct shape by bending laminated-wood beams and six-inch-thick wood sheathing. Building on the oceanic theme, he then covered the wood in hand-cut copper shingles which he said “look like scales on a fish.”
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The 6,200-square-foot house sits on large posts ground into Malibu’s seaside, giving it the appearance of a wave floating in the air just before it hits the sea. A deck made up of a series of multi-sized curves hugs the facade’s floor-to ceiling glass walls. British rock musician Rod Stewart, who owned the property in the 1980s, asked Gesner (who lived next door in another of his famous homes dubbed “The Sandcastle”) to design railings for the decks. “He was very concerned that people at his parties would stumble and fall off the edge,” said Zen Genser, the architect’s son.
Inside, a curved, sunken conversation pit in the living room faces a fireplace and the ocean. The all-white primary suite’s sleeping area steps down into a lounge section outfitted with daybeds and a desk, while the ensuite bathroom features a side-by-side shower and built-in bathtub.
Kushner, whose brother is married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, has invested in many tech companies including Instagram, Spotify, and Kloss’s coding bootcamp for girls. The couple, who share two sons, also own a New York City Penthouse in the historic Puck Building and a $23.5 million estate on Miami Beach.
