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Live in Harmony With Nature in the Iconic Hines House at Sea Ranch

One hundred miles north of San Francisco, up state Route 1, is a town that’s more than a town. Started in 1964, Sea Ranch was conceived as a place where nature and architecture could blend seamlessly. Architecture firm Moore, Lyndon, Turnbull, and Whitaker, along with landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, began creating a design “in which successful structures become part of nature’s tapestry.”

“The concept has to do with an attitude that the environmental setting is more important than the building. The Sea Ranch is not about individual buildings, it’s about ten miles of Pacific Ocean and the land adjacent to it. It has to do with developing a shared image,” writes Director of Design Review Richard Whitaker in “The Sea Ranch: Concept and Covenant.”

That may be so, but as individual buildings go, the Hines house is one of Sea Ranch’s most iconic. With William Turnbull Jr. as lead architect, the four-bedroom, three-bath, 2,382-square-foot home was built in 1967 and won the Sunset/AIA home of the year award in 1970. Turnbull worked on the home for the remainder of his life, later adding a kitchen expansion, view deck, library, and skylights.

The Hines house is being offered publicly for the first time since 1972, for $2.45 million. It, along with the Sea Ranch’s Johnson house, is considered one of Turnbull’s most successful explorations of the possibilities of creating architectural forms that sit within organic ones.

The home is actually two structures connected by a courtyard: a big house for family and friends to gather and a bunk house for sleeping. It’s set on 1.5 acres flanked by an ocean view on one side and the forest on the other. Turnbull brought the landscape into the interior of the home through skylights and Douglas fir and redwood paneling.

The big house is built down the side of the slope, changing levels to match the natural form of the hillside.

“It’s all about integrating the buildings into the landscape,” explains listing agent Ilana Gafni.

Turnbull, who also owned and designed the Johnson-Turnbull Winery in Napa, was entranced by the “magic of Shaker simplicity,” according to his obituary in the New York Times. And the simple side shines in the Hines house’s rugged wood facing and interiors.

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Source: Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com » Real Estate News