Actress Shirley MacLaine lists $17.4 million ranch near Abiquiu

A massive northern New Mexico property belonging to Academy Award-winning actress and author Shirley MacLaine has been listed for sale for $17.4 million.

The property, known as Plaza Blanca Ranch, is located 15 minutes from Abiquiu and roughly 10 minutes away from the property where the famous late artist Georgia O’Keeffe lived and painted New Mexico’s high desert landscapes.

MacLaine, 91, has owned the property since 1990. She set up roots in New Mexico following successful performances in films including 1955’s “The Trouble with Harry,” 1989’s “Steel Magnolias,” and 1983’s “Terms of Endearment,” for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress.

The nearly 7,500-acre ranch was brought to the market by Fay Ranches, a land brokerage specializing in premier ranch listings, on Tuesday. The ranch was briefly available once before in 2014 for $18 million but did not sell, according to one of the property’s listing brokers, Robert Martin.

“This listing is a once-in-a-generation chance to steward a property that blends natural wonder, cultural legacy and true New Mexico spirit,” Fay Ranches Broker Jim Vidamour said in a statement.

Plaza Blanca Ranch features a 9,000-square-foot Hacienda-style home with four bedroom suites, a 2,000-square-foot guest house, barn and workshop. The home was originally built to operate off the grid and is now powered by grid-tied solar and wind power, according to a news release from Fay Ranches.

The property was just two old adobe structures when it was purchased by MacLaine, who remodeled and conjoined the two houses and added the barn and workshop over the years, according to Warren Thompson, a Santa Fe real estate broker who sold the ranch to MacLaine more than three decades ago.

Deer and other wildlife are known to frequent the ranch, which shares a seven-mile border with the Carson National Forest. Opportunities for outdoor recreation exist through several dirt roads, and the ranch is also home to Native American petroglyphs, a news release said.

Most notable of the ranch’s “dramatic scenery” are its white sandstone cliffs, commonly referred to as Plaza Blanca or The White Place, Martin told the Journal. The rock formations were made famous by O’Keeffe, who often visited the cliffs for artistic inspiration, according to an article on the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s website.

The ranch also offers views of the Chama River Valley’s red rock mesas and distant mountains, which the listing says have “inspired artists, photographers and writers for generations.”

The ranch’s “vivid colors and tranquility” are what make the listing a unique one, Martin said, calling the property’s environment “one of the most iconic settings in the Southwest.”

Martin said he feels “honored” to handle selling the property, with its connections to MacLaine’s and artists like O’Keeffe making it a “rare” property in New Mexico.

Plaza Blanca Ranch