REAL ESTATE

Taylor Swift, 5’11”, is Building Some Perplexingly Short Walls Around Her Beverly Hills Mansion

As in literally as tall as Calvin Harris—without his shoes on.


Taylor Swift The 1989 World Tour Live In Los Angeles - Night 1
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In case you missed that time a few months ago when she declared “the old Taylor” dead, Taylor Swift has made quite a few life changes recently. Those include a new aesthetic; a new, already best-selling album featuring both Ed Sheeran and Future rapping; a whole new series of questionable fashion choices; and, perhaps most subtly, a definite change in the average height of her well-publicized boyfriends.

Swift, who is an inch shorter than six feet tall, started off the string of very public relationships she’s now so well known for in 2008 with Joe Jonas, who stands at just 5’7″, and who was followed by Taylor Lautner, who clocks in at 5’9″. From there, Swift experimented with dating the 6’3″ John Mayer, and after that didn’t go to well, upgraded to a man she saw more eye to eye with: Jake Gyllenhaal, who’s exactly her height.

From there, a series of 6″ or taller men has followed: Harry Styles, 6″; Tom Hiddleston and Conor Kennedy, both 6’2″; Joe Alwyn, her current beau, 6’1″. Why, then, is Swift currently going to the trouble of building, and getting approval to build, a supposedly privacy-imposing and definitely aesthetic-ruining cinder block wall around her Beverly Hills mansion that is even shorter than one of her former flames, the 6’6″ Calvin Harris, without his shoes on?

No Wonder Taylor Swift is Smitten with Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston photographed by Mona Kuhn, styled by Patrick Mackie. Grooming by Cheri Keating at The Wall Group. Digital technicians: Andrea Bartley, Paolo Alfante. Photography assistants: Chris O’Neill, Jared Burkhardt. Fashion assistants: Jay Barrett, Elyse Lightner. Special thanks to the Standard Highline and Chateau Marmont.

Tom Hiddleston wears Special Delivery NYC boxers.

Photographed by Mona Kuhn, styled by Patrick Mackie. Grooming by Cheri Keating at The Wall Group. Digital technicians: Andrea Bartley, Paolo Alfante. Photography assistants: Chris O’Neill, Jared Burkhardt. Fashion assistants: Jay Barrett, Elyse Lightner. Special thanks to the Standard Highline and Chateau Marmont.
Tom Hiddleston photographed by Mona Kuhn, styled by Patrick Mackie. Grooming by Cheri Keating at The Wall Group. Digital technicians: Andrea Bartley, Paolo Alfante. Photography assistants: Chris O’Neill, Jared Burkhardt. Fashion assistants: Jay Barrett, Elyse Lightner. Special thanks to the Standard Highline and Chateau Marmont.

Tom Hiddleston wears Special Delivery NYC boxers.

Photographed by Mona Kuhn, styled by Patrick Mackie. Grooming by Cheri Keating at The Wall Group. Digital technicians: Andrea Bartley, Paolo Alfante. Photography assistants: Chris O’Neill, Jared Burkhardt. Fashion assistants: Jay Barrett, Elyse Lightner. Special thanks to the Standard Highline and Chateau Marmont.

Tom Hiddleston wears Special Delivery NYC boxers.

Photographed by Mona Kuhn, styled by Patrick Mackie. Grooming by Cheri Keating at The Wall Group. Digital technicians: Andrea Bartley, Paolo Alfante. Photography assistants: Chris O’Neill, Jared Burkhardt. Fashion assistants: Jay Barrett, Elyse Lightner. Special thanks to the Standard Highline and Chateau Marmont.
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Swift bought the seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom home in question in 2015 for an estimated $25 million, and has since taken pains to restore it to all of its original glory, including advocating for its status as a landmark. (It was built in 1934 for the film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who used the space to hang with pals like Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin.) And while that’s chiefly consisted of refurbishing its Georgian Revival details and reconstructing a pool cabana, her latest plans for additions don’t sound like they’ll be blending in very much with the current décor. Today comes news that Swift, who is in the process of making her front gate even sturdier, has reportedly obtained permits to build a 6.5-foot cinder block wall by her front porch, along with a seven-foot retaining wall by her tennis court.

Normally, these additions wouldn’t be an issue, but the landmark status, which Beverly Hills approved in April, not only protects the home and gives Swift a significant tax break, but prevents her from making any real changes to the property without first gaining further approval. (Fret not, however: The president of the Beverly Hills Historical Society already has good faith in her changes because they won’t “impact the integrity” of the home.)

Sure, Swift’s new image includes activities like bathing in $10 million worth of diamonds, and maintaining an air of exclusivity and secrecy, as her temporary ban on streaming her new album has showcased. Given that a good portion of that album seems to be about Alwyn, and that the pair has been reclusive enough for the internet to believe Swift had started traveling inside of a suitcase, however, it seems like guarding her personal life—which, let’s face it, at least to the tabloids mean her love life, now that squads are long gone—remains a top priority.

Given that her past two boyfriends have been British, however, it may just be that Swift has resigned herself to hanging out with them in more convenient places—like her equally multimillion-dollar, heavily guarded homes in New York, Rhode Island, and Nashville.

Related: Taylor Swift’s Reputation Will Be The Biggest Album of The Year

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