You could make a case that Del Mar Terrace is under-valued, compared to the rest of Del Mar. The views are bigger due to fewer trees, and you can get to the freeway or beach in five minutes – how many places can say that?
Ken Rochetti was the architect of the featured home above, and quite a few others in the north coastal region – here’s one on Whale Watch in La Jolla with some trick drone work:
Usually these oldies from the 1930s have plenty wrong with them – multiple funky updates that need to be re-done, small rooms, small yards, etc.
They also tend to be in the original neighborhoods of San Diego County, some of which haven’t fared too well. But this one has a lot going for it:
Those familar with the mid-century modern homes have probably heard of the Case Study houses, which wiki calls ‘experiments in American residential architecture’. Unfortunately this video is of the corner house which is two doors down, and then only drives by the Case Study House #23A:
Case Study “Triad” House A
– standing
2342 Rue de Anne, 1960
One of three related houses where the earlier Arts & Architecture puritanical vocabulary of post, beam and glass are now played off against water (reflecting pond). One of only three (hence “Triad”) San Diego examples of the 36 building Case Study program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine editor John Entenza and USC’s School of Architecture (1945 -’66) to promote modernism as a stylish, livable architectural form. Situated three feet below street level, House A’s 10-foot front door is reached via a pre-cast concrete path floated over a shallow reflecting pool. This 6-room modified U-plan is the most complex of the three resawn tongue and groove redwood boarding houses decoratively enhanced by the (wood and steel) post and beam (laminated wood) motif.
Story with photos here: Case Study houses – La Jolla
The Florida beachfront home of the Kennedys:
The only adobe structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 1920s was supposed to be built in El Paso, TX. But due to circumstances — rumored to be differences of opinion between Wright and the homeowner — the project never came to be, and by the end of the 1940s, the plans were shelved.
Nearly 30 years later, Minneapolis developer Charles Klotsche inquired with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation about using the adobe plans. Working with architects who once trained alongside Wright, Klotsche produced construction plans for the design, increasing the square footage from 2,400 to 4,900.
“The floor plan was maintained essentially,” explained David Fries of Sotheby’s International Realty. “It’s one of 16 houses that have been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built after his death and approved by the foundation. The architects that worked with Frank Lloyd Wright were the same ones who did the construction documents with this property.”
Construction began in 1984, and the home was completed in 1985. And even though Wright himself didn’t see the finished structure, the foundation recognizes the home as a Wright piece.
The 5-bed, 4-bath home sits on a 9-acre promontory that “really feels like you’re perched on a mountain,” Fries said. Views of Santa Fe below are visible from the half-moon pool and several of the home’s rooms.
The pool in itself is unusual; a small canal leads the swimming pool into one of the bathrooms.
Throughout the rest of the home, Wright’s trademark of combining nature with architecture is visible — from the rounded walls, large windows and central courtyard.
“It’s a piece of artwork,” Fries said. “People have said living in a Frank Lloyd Wright home will change you. The best feature of this home is just the design itself.”
List price is $4,750,000.
http://www.zillow.com/blog/2012-11-07/house-of-the-week-frank-lloyd-wrights-pottery-house/
Entrepreneur Joseph Massaro bought a private island on a lake in New York state in 1996 and spent ten years constructing a home that had been custom designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the island but never built, using the original blueprints — the result is extraordinary.
A premiere auction Saturday of the historic Villa Rockledge in Laguna Beach, an ocean front property built by Frank Miller, the man who had a hand in shaping the famed Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside from 1918 to 1922, has been cancelled.
That’s because the iconic property is under contract for a sale, Villa Rockledge owner Roger Jones confirmed. “We reached a deal,’’ Jones said. “There will be no auction.”
The purchase price for the oldest ocean estate in Laguna Beach, one carrying a list price in 2009 of just under $35 million and fell to $24.9 million in 2011, exceeded the minimum auction bid price of $10.5 million, Jones said.
But the final purchase price has not yet been revealed.
Todd Wohl, of Premiere Estates Auction Co., on Friday said those details – and the buyers’ name — are being withheld until property closes escrow later this month.
Jones, likewise, declined to name the buyers, but did say the couple hailed from Denmark and has made prior real estate investments in Laguna Beach.
He described the sale as an “all-cash” deal that involved multiple bids. Contract terms reportedly include a provision allowing Jones and his wife, Sherill Bottjer, to stay at Villa Rockledge for three-months after the 8,064-square-foot estate closes escrow.
“They’re very nice people,’’ Jones said. “We’re very happy to report there will be a sale.”
The largely hand-hewn estate, which Miller fashioned out of rock, thick timber, iron and tile as a summer home for his second wife, Marion, cost $100,000 to build and is best known for architectural features that replicate Spanish mission design elements in the Riverside lodge.
The Mission Inn draws thousands of guests every year, especially at Christmas.
Villa Rockledge had quieter appeal, but its significance in the realm of California architecture is unflappable. The lofty, cliff-side estate was put in the National Registry of Historic Places in March 1984.
The estate features a main home with six villas, a saltwater tide pool on the private beach, coiffed garden with meandering stone walkways and a commanding seaside view. Brick and mosaic tile elements in the home replicate design elements in The Mission Inn, down to mosaic tiles that depict a macaw.
Jones, who wrote the book, “The History of Villa Rockledge,’’ paid $420,000 for the estate in February 1973 to become the fifth owner, after renting a studio-sized villa on the grounds for $85-a-month for five years.
“It’s a good way to end the year,’’ said broker Jeff Knowles of Sage Lang Investment Real Estate.
Wohl said Premiere Estates Auction received three pre-auction offers the Joneses considered before deciding to ink a contract that put the home into escrow.
“We have a 100 percent closing rate once it goes under contract,’’ Wohl said. “The sellers are ecstatic they found a buyer with the same type of passion for this historic property.’’
Buyers who pre-qualified for the Saturday, Dec. 15, auction hailed from Russia, China and California. A pre-auction gala drew more than 250 brokers and real estate agents from Pacific Palisades through the Orange County area, he said.
I didn’t know who owned this house until I got back to HQ – nicest house I’ve ever seen in the tract. The highest sale on the street was $1,340,000 in 2007, so the list price would be about right (-24%). What has changed is how buyers feel about the oceanfront thing:
http://www.natives.co.uk/news/shaun-white-buys-3-85-million-beach-house-then-goes-surfing-video/5947
A 15-year old mansion built by former NFL star Rod Kush in Gretna, Neb., was reduced to smoldering rubble on Sunday after firefighters set the abandoned home ablaze as part of their training.
The ostentatious, 14,000-square-foot former home of the ex-Buffalo Bills safety — once called the “finest mansion in all of Sarpy County” — used to be valued at $2.6 million. But now it’s gone.
Kush built the house (pictured at left before the fire) in 1997, but after financial setbacks forced him to sell it for $1.6 million to FRK Development in 2008, which then donated it to Catholic Charities for a planned youth substance abuse treatment center.
When those plans fell through, Catholic Charities sold the property and home in October 2010 to Larry Smith of Elkhorn for $612,000. It became overrun with mold and was damaged by vandals. The Sarpy County assessor eventually deemed the home worthless, and the current owner donated it to the local fire department for a controlled burn.
“It would cost more to mitigate the mold damage than the house is worth,” Sarpy County Assessor Dan Pittman told the Omaha World-Herald in October.
The Gretna Volunteer Fire Department, along with other agencies, set the house on fire room-by-room until the entire home was in flames. Once the test fire was completed, the house was burned entirely to the ground.
http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/12/04/rod-kush-mansion-burns-firefighting-exercise/
From wiki:
Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by his design for Fallingwater (1935), which has been called “the best all-time work of American architecture”. Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States.
His work includes original and innovative examples of many different building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. Wright also designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wright authored 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe. His colorful personal life often made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire and murders at his Taliesin studio. Already well known during his lifetime, Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as “the greatest American architect of all time.”
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