Sixty-five years after Frank Lloyd Wright designed the most famous private home in the United States for the owner of Pittsburgh's Kaufmann Department Stores, something similar to Fallingwater was going up in Carmel, California...
Perched atop a secluded mountain top overlooking the Pacific Ocean, almost every room and terrace is focused on the view. From John Steinbeck to Ansel Adams, Clint Eastwood and Doris Day, Carmel has been a popular decompression chamber and escape for celebrities, where they are treated like average people. A charming and quirky town, Carmel is also known for having some of the strangest town customs and laws in the country. There are no street addresses and no house-to-house mail delivery. Mail is collected at the post office and directions to a specific house are usually given by its paint color or its name. Men are not supposed to wear jackets and slacks that don’t match and women’s heel heights are not to exceed two inches without a permit (issued free of charge). A dog-lover’s heaven, mutts are seated at restaurants, have Yappy Hour and custom doggie menus of kibble, biscuits, grilled chicken, steak tartare and more - thanks to Doris Day’s legendary deep love of dogs.
Built in 2000 on a mountain ridge of 25 acres with panoramic Pacific views, this stunning Carmel Highlands home was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's creation of "Falling Water". The entire home is trimmed out in maple, mahogany, stone and slate offering stunning views from almost every room in the house. Surrounded by verdant Pacific coast canyons, Highlands Oak, as it is lovingly called, is blessed with unparalleled panoramic views and, like Fallingwater, is stunning proof of the serenity to be achieved in integrating a living space with nature.
Seated within a gated enclave this astounding home offers over 5,400 sq.ft, 3 bedroom suites, 3.5 baths, wine cellar, office, 3 car garage and is surrounded by decks and terraces with views from Pt. Lobos to Carmel Bay and on to Pebble Beach and Santa Cruz.
High end finishes run throughout the large open chef’s kitchen overlooks the ocean with table and chairs positioned perfectly for coffee with a view, a magnificent curving mahogany stairway leads to an 1,800 square foot master-bedroom suite which again provides hundreds of square feet of ocean-view decks.
Priced at $5.125 million, this Fallingwater-inspired home is listed with Kathleen McCrystal, Douglas Elliman, Carmel.
Photo credit: Douglas Elliman
