The 25 most expensive ZIP codes in America

Read article : The 25 most expensive ZIP codes in America

caption

New York City’s TriBeCa neighborhood is home to three of the most expensive ZIP codes in the US.

source

Property Shark

The 25 most expensive ZIP codes in the US are unsurprisingly concentrated on the coasts.

Real estate listings site Property Shark recently used data from all residential transactions closed in 2016 to determine which ZIP codes across the US were most expensive for buyers.

California dominated the list with 17 cities represented, including well-known places like Beverly Hills and its famous 90210 ZIP code.

New York also claimed six spots, with pricey Hamptons favorite Sagaponack coming in at No. 1.

Only ZIP codes containing more than five sold properties were considered for the list. Property Shark helped us find listings that were close to each of the ZIP codes’ median sales price. Check out the full list below:

---

25. 95030: Los Gatos, California

source

Sotheby’s

Median sale price: $2,180,000

This two-bedroom, two-bathroom Los Gatos home will run you around $2.3 million, but it comes complete with hardwood floors, a detached guest house, and four private acres of wooded land.

---

24. 94123: San Francisco

source

Sotheby’s

Median sale price:$2,210,000

In San Francisco, $2.27 million will get you a home like this one, which packs three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a wood burning fireplace, stainless steel appliances, and a formal dining room into 1,900 square feet.

---

23. 94306: Palo Alto, California

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$2,227,500

This three-level home in Palo Alto, on the market for $2.25 million, features quartz countertops, abundant natural light, and a fenced-in patio.

---

22. 94010: Burlingame, California

source

Sotheby’s

Median sale price:$2,234,000

For around $2 million, you can snag a home like this one in Burlingame, which sits close to local schools and parks, and is only a hop, skip, and jump away from Silicon Valley. The 2,180-square-foot house features three bedrooms and two and a half baths.

---

21. 92657: Newport Coast, California

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$2,260,000

This four bedroom Newport Coast home can be found inside the The Pointe gated community. On the market for $2.24 million, it features high-end appliances, quartz countertops, and an outdoor kitchen.

---

20. 90265: Malibu, California

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$2,375,500

Call this four-bedroom, two-bathroom abode home for a little over $2.37 million. In addition to a private pool, it’s also decked out with vaulted ceilings and a spacious kitchen and dining area.

---

19. 93108: Santa Barbara, California

source

Coldwell Banker

Median sale price:$2,450,000

For $2.5 million, score this 1,540-square-foot Santa Barbara home right by Montecito Beach. In addition to the killer views, the place features a remodeled kitchen and cathedral ceilings.

---

18. 92661: Newport Beach

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$2,465,000

This three-bedroom home in Newport Beach is just a short walk from the beach. It’s on the market for around $2.3 million and offers tremendous ocean views.

---

17. 11975: Wainscott, New York

source

Halstead Property

Median sale price:$2,510,000

Minutes away from East Hampton and Sag Harbor, this five-bedroom Wainscott home is going for around $2.5 million. It features covered outdoor dining, a heated backyard pool, and an expansive wraparound porch.

---

16. 11976: Water Mill, New York

source

Zillow

Median sale price:$2,600,000

Full of natural light, this airy and secluded home in Water Mill is on the market for $2.67 million. Located on two acres of private land, it comes complete with multiple outdoor decks, a pool, and a wood burning fireplace.

---

15. 94024: Los Altos, California

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$2,637,000

This $2.5 million home in Los Altos sits at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac and offers hardwod floors, a wraparound deck, and a spacious kitchen.

---

14. 92662: Newport Beach, California

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$2,687,500

Just a short walk from the water, this beach style home in Newport Beach is breezy and welcoming, with clean white walls, dark wood floors, and abundant natural light. Make it yours for $2.75 million.

---

13. 94957: Ross, California

source

Coldwell Banker

Median sale price:$2,771,250

On the market for around $2 million, this 3,020-square-foot home boasts breaktaking views of Ross Valley and an outdoor sun deck that will let you enjoy California’s fantastic weather all year round.

---

12. 10282: New York City

source

Sotheby’s

Median sale price:$2,784,500

Located in NYC’s TriBeCa neighborhood, this 1,439-square-foot home features 40 feet of windows, an open kitchen, and stunning views of the Hudson River. Building amenities also include a saltwater pool and landscaped courtyard. Make it yours for $2.8 million.

---

11. 02199: Boston

source

CL Properties

Median sale price:$2,800,000

Located in one of the only non-California or New York zip codes on the list, this $2.7 million Boston home boasts floor-t0-ceiling windows, granite countertops, and 1,589 square feet of space.

---

10. 94028: Portola Valley, California

source

Coldwell Banker

Median sale price:$2,815,000

This Portola Valley home is on the market for around $2.6 million. It comes complete with three bedrooms, a spacious kitchen, and high, wood-beamed ceilings. The surrounding forest views add a cozy touch.

---

9. 94022: Los Altos, California

source

MLS Listings

Median sale price:$2,831,250

Snag this five-bedroom Los Altos home for around $2.7 million. The freshly painted interior is airy and bright, while the newly landscaped backyard provides a quiet, private place to relax.

---

8. 94301: Palo Alto, California

source

Coldwell Banker

Median sale price:$2,935,000

For around $3 million, this two-home lot in Palo Alto allows owners a rare opportunity to build the house of their dreams up to 2,600 square feet in size. The newly renovated guesthouse out back boasts 950 square feet of space and can be utilized as a separate rental unit.

---

7. 90210: Beverly Hills, California

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$3,128,250

For just over $3 million, enjoy this luxury penthouse in the heart of Beverly Hills. The unit comes equipped with high ceilings, two master suites, and a private rooftop deck.

---

6. 10007: New York City

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$3,349,657

This two-bedroom, three-bathroom TriBeCa residence offers 10-foot ceilings, gold marble countertops, and a full-size in-unit washer and dryer. It’s on the market for around $3.35 million.

---

5. 90402: Santa Monica, California

source

Coldwell Banker

Median sale price:$3,395,000

This cheery Santa Monica home is available for $3.25 million. It boasts a renovated chef’s kitchen, private swimming pool, and loads of outdoor space.

---

4. 33109: Miami Beach, Florida

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$3,400,000

Boasting both pool and beach views, this 2,744-square-foot Miami Beach home is available for around $3.4 million. It also has also high-end appliances and a glass walk-in closet to swoon over.

---

3. 10013: New York City

source

Property Shark

Median sale price:$3,808,765

Cool white walls and streams of natural light give this TriBeCa apartment a cozy vibe. The spacious home is on the market for $3.75 million.

---

2. 94027: Atherton, California

source

Coldwell Banker

Median sale price:$5,425,000

Available for $5.5 million, this Atherton home features white marble countertops, four spacious bedrooms, and an outdoor kitchen.

---

1. 11962: Sagaponack, New York

source

Sotheby’s

Median sale price:$5,500,000

This classic Hamptons beach house comes complete with a heated pool, outdoor gardens, and a spacious deck, perfect for entertaining all summer. The home is on the market for $5.75 million.

Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort Opens

Read article : Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort Opens

By: Hyatt Hotels & Resorts |  0 Shares     12 Reads

Opening sets new standard of luxury for Sanya Island in China

February 02, 2015 // Franchising.com // CHICAGO – Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced the opening of Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort in Sanya on Hainan Island, China’s southernmost province widely known as "the Hawaii of China." The hotel marks the fifth Park Hyatt hotel in China, as well as the 35th Park Hyatt hotel in the world.

Situated on a stunning inlet and featuring a private lake and white-sand beach, Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort combines the luxury of privacy and exclusivity with accessibility, being a mere three mile drive from Yalong Bay, the island’s most popular tourist destination.

"We are delighted to introduce the Park Hyatt brand to Sanya," said David Udell, Group President, Asia Pacific, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. "This opening is a testament to our commitment to strategic, thoughtful and purposeful growth in China. The tourism and hospitality industry in Sanya has been booming in recent years, and we are proud that the Park Hyatt brand can be part of that growth. We look forward to welcoming travelers to our most premium brand, where we create sophisticated and enriching experiences."

"It is extremely exciting for us to open our doors in this incredibly unique location -- a place where our guests can enjoy privacy and exclusive access to our beautiful bay and beach overlooking some of the most breathtaking views in Sanya, all while remaining close to the vibrant Yalong Bay only minutes away," said Nicholas Lacey, General Manager, Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort. "Topped off with the elegantly designed spaces and personalized service that Park Hyatt hotels are known for, Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort will be a sanctuary for our many guests from around the world."

Design and Guestrooms

Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort was created by the award-winning Belgian architect, Jean-Michel Gathy of the renowned design-consultancy firm, Denniston. The strikingly modernist development comprises six standalone, arch-shaped buildings designed to allow chi, the traditional Chinese notion of energy, to flow unhindered between ocean and mountains. Set amid the lush landscape next to the beautiful Nan Hu Lake, the placement of every building and internal space has been carefully considered to maximize guests’ enjoyment of the breathtaking view. The six buildings are linked by wide walkways and are decorated with paintings and sculptures to create a tranquil and rarefied art-walk experience.

Designed to replicate the feeling of living in a private mansion by the sea, the sophisticated, elegant interiors are residential in style with a subtle Chinese sensibility. As in private homes, the spaces are wholly flexible. Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort features 207 luxurious guestrooms, including 26 suites and 17 villas. At almost 700 square feet, the standard rooms are among the largest on the island, and almost all of the guestrooms enjoy unadulterated views of the South China Sea.

Drinking and Dining

The ethos of the international culinary team at Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort is to offer a range of authentic Chinese and Western dishes that incorporate ingredients of the highest quality, sourced locally wherever possible. In keeping with the residential concept and ambience of a resort setting, guests are welcome to order from the menu or request bespoke dishes as relaxed and freely as they might do at home. The culinary team is primed to create unique and memorable dining experiences for guests, whether it is a champagne breakfast on the beach, a family barbecue in the villa, or a sunset supper on a yacht.

There are eight main drinking and dining venues: Dining Room, Cellar, Pool House, Pool Bar, Bath House, Library, Terrace and Tea House, following the notion of rooms within a large residence. At each establishment, guests can order from the menus of any of the other dining venues.

Dining Room is the main residential-style dining space offering Chinese cuisine focusing on seafood and steaks. Cellar is a cozy extension of the Dining Room, offering private dining in an intimate setting.

Next to Cellar, in a traditional Chinese-style building topped with ceramic-roof tiles, is Tea House. The impressive, light-filled space, featuring a mezzanine floor and a 30-foot high ceiling strung with myriad birdcages, will serve a premium selection of Chinese teas, an afternoon tea menu, and regional Chinese cuisine.

Guests can also enjoy Western and Chinese comfort food such as pizza, burgers or chilled noodles, either at Pool House, Pool Bar, or Bath House alongside the pools. Library and Terrace are also great choices for guests who want to relax and read a good book – or take in the ocean views – while sipping on a cold drink or a premium cocktail.

Meetings and Events

Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort aims to be the most desirable, upscale event venue in Hainan. The hotel features eight unique, residential-style event venues, ranging from 450 square feet to over 3,600 square feet. All venues feature an abundance of natural light, outdoor terraces and state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment and lighting.

Chamber is the largest indoor event space, measuring just over 3,600 square feet and comprising three separate spaces: a reception area, an open kitchen and a main dining area. Equally unique is Gallery, a long, 3,100 square foot space with paintings and sculptures decorating both sides to resemble an art gallery. The Salons are perfect for smaller, more intimate events. The almost 1,700 square foot Grand Salon with its 36-foot ceiling height and walls lined with wooden lattice, is an ideal venue for a wedding or gala dinner. The 6,500 square foot lawn in front of Pool House is ideal for atmospheric outdoor events.

Recreation and Activities

The recreation team has spent years researching and testing activities to offer guests the most unique and memorable activities during their time at Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort. Five separate pools – a 375 square foot pool, a children’s pool, a family pool, a spa pool and an indoor pool – are available to suit all types of swimmers. While at Camp Hyatt, kids and young adults will be both entertained and educated with activities like cooking classes and eco-activities by availing themselves of the latest toys and video games or simply by reading or resting in the "silent room."

With a focus on local culture, as well as marine and environmental education, the resort offers myriad outdoor activity options for all ages, include hiking, golfing and stargazing, along with tours to nearby attractions such as Butterfly Valley, Nanshan Temple, Yazhou Ancient City and the Ganzaling Nature Reserve. Water sports enthusiasts will be thrilled with Baifu (Fortune) Bay – a private bay right next to Sunny Bay – renowned for offering some of the best diving conditions in China, as well as being an ideal spot for boating and kayaking.

The Spa at Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort is due to open in late 2015. Located by the lake and accessed by buggy, the spacious, light-filled spa will be built in a traditional Chinese style and will feature a main, two-story building and eight freestanding villas around an open-air courtyard. The semi open-air villas will each include a couple’s treatment room, a private foot treatment room, a freestanding tub, a shower, a walk-in wardrobe and an oversized daybed. Meanwhile, the main spa building will feature four additional treatment rooms; three foot-treatment rooms, a TCM consultancy chamber and a lounge on the first floor. The floor below features a gym, a yoga studio and an outdoor infinity pool. Benefit-driven treatments will be carefully conceived to incorporate proven traditional Chinese practices, as well as the very latest in international spa techniques.

For more information on Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort, please visit the hotel’s website.

About Park Hyatt

Park Hyatt hotels provide discerning, affluent business and leisure guests with elegant and luxurious accommodation and offers them highly attentive personal service in an intimate environment. Located in several of the world's premier destinations, each Park Hyatt hotel is custom designed to combine sophistication with a distinctive regional character. Park Hyatt hotels feature well-appointed guestrooms, meeting and special event space for groups, critically acclaimed art, food and beverage programs, and signature restaurants featuring award-winning chefs.

There are currently 35 Park Hyatt hotels in the following locations: Abu Dhabi, Beaver Creek, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Busan, Canberra, Carlsbad, Changbaishan, Chennai, Chicago, Dubai, Goa, Hamburg, Hyderabad, Istanbul, Jeddah, Maldives, Melbourne, Mendoza, Milan, Moscow, New York, Ningbo, Paris, Saigon, Sanya Sunny Bay, Seoul, Shanghai, Siem Reap, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna, Washington D.C., and Zurich. www.parkhyatt.com.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The Company’s subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences and vacation ownership properties, including under the Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Residences and Hyatt Residence Club brand names and have locations on six continents. As of September 30, 2014, the Company's worldwide portfolio consisted of 573 properties in 48 countries. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by us and our management, are inherently uncertain. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, the rate and pace of economic recovery following economic downturns; levels of spending in business and leisure segments as well as consumer confidence; declines in occupancy and average daily rate; if our third-party owners, franchisees or development partners are unable to access the capital necessary to fund current operations or implement our plans for growth; changes in the competitive environment in our industry and the markets where we operate; our ability to access the capital markets; and other risks discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which filings are available from the SEC. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable laws. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Contacts:

Lillian Zhang
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts – China
+86 10 5928 1234
lillian.zhang@hyatt.com

Jamie Rothfeld
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts – Corporate
+1 312 780 6070
jamie.rothfeld@hyatt.com

###

Share this Story:

Comments:

comments powered by

Home Tour: Remodeled Anderson Township barn becomes gorgeous modern dream home

Read article : Home Tour: Remodeled Anderson Township barn becomes gorgeous modern dream home

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Jerry Whitney wasn’t looking to move, but he was looking for a clear route from his Anderson Township home to the airport on a day when interstate traffic was heavy. So he cut down Five Mile Road toward Kellogg Avenue.

“I didn’t want to miss my flight,” he said. “And then I saw this place and said, ‘Oh, my god, look at that barn.’ And then I saw a ‘for sale’ sign and Five Mile Creek behind it.”

He fell in love. When his wife of 14 years, Karen, saw it, she fell in love, too.

On Dec. 31, 2012, seven days after that first sighting, the Whitneys bought the 30-year-old horse barn and its seven acres at a 30 percent discount from a motivated seller. It cost them $300,000.

Fast forward 18 months and the Whitneys – who had no previous home construction experience – moved out of a 300-square-foot trailer on the property into a home like no other, a dream house they played a big role in designing and decorating.

The shock of the unexpected experience has worn off, but not the excitement and contentment they feel for their fully modern, energy-efficient barn house. Also still strong is their appreciation for their project partners – among them architect Marc McConnell, builder Paul Kapitula, Keidel Supply, A&S Lighting, Tate Builders Supply, Cooknee Cabinets, KBR Countertop Specialists, Home Depot, IKEA, The Container Store and Peoples First Savings Bank.

All these forces came together to produce a four-bedroom, three-bathroom showcase of modern architecture and engineering that surprisingly fits inside a big, old, round-top home originally built for horses.

Not only does the place run on a geothermal energy system that held down last summer’s utility bills to $90 per month, it is designed to be the Whitneys’ "forever home." The couple asked for and got what architects call “living in place” features that will allow the Whitneys, who are in their 60s, to stay in their home permanently.

The house’s hallways and doors are extra-wide. There’s a 4-foot-wide shaft just behind a door off the entry hall where an elevator to the second floor and its master bedroom can be installed if and when it is needed. Next to the shaft is a laundry room with a chute from the second floor. The master bathroom’s shower door is wide and wheelchair-accessible. Even the landscaping is designed to require minimal maintenance and no chemicals.

There are picture windows in every main room through which the Whitneys, for the rest of their lives, can watch the water rush down Five Mile Creek, lots of wildlife – deer, cardinals, doves, woodpeckers, nut hatches, tufted titmice and blue jays – and the moon and stars.

Take the Tour

The Whitneys – she’s from Bridgetown and is a University of Cincinnati graduate, he is from Lima, Ohio, and is a Xavier University graduate – wanted to retain the bones of the barn. And there’s no mistaking what it used to be when you turn off Five Mile Road onto their curved driveway. The house’s Quonset hut shape is enhanced by two second-floor dormers, a glassy grand entrance and the original cupola poking out at the roof’s center.

The barn’s industrial-strength foundation passed inspection with flying colors and was retained, but most of the interior – the stables, tack room and hayloft – was gutted to the arched laminated beams that support the rounded roof. To keep it water-tight during a 100-year flood, the entire house had to be raised 14½ inches.

Architect McConnell was so inspired by the place, Jerry Whitney said, that he sketched the floor plan in eight hours and then started marking off the layout with blue tape.

What strikes visitors upon entering the Whitneys’ home is its whiteness, its angular walls and windows, and its uncluttered, modern décor. Yet hints of the barn are there in the entry in the form of a frosted two-paneled sliding door that leads into the living room and a long, floating ledge made of chocolate walnut Jerry Whitney picked up on a one-day drive to Kansas City, Missouri, and back.

The Whitneys had hoped to repurpose two sliding wood doors in the old stable, but their condition was too poor.

“So we were in IKEA one day, and we saw those panels on some cabinets and said, ‘There’s our barn doors,’” said Jerry Whitney, a sales executive with a logistics software company.

The doors might leak a little heat, but the gas fireplace and heated, polished concrete floors keep the living room warm.

“My parents came here for two weeks in October, and they were so warm. My mother learned how to work the thermostat and kept it at 70 degrees. We practically had to kick them out,” joked Karen Whitney, a longtime physician’s assistant.

To the left of the entry hall and beyond the elevator shaft, laundry room and mechanicals closet are two bedrooms that share what the Whitneys call their “spa room.” The bathroom features sparkly, speckled gray quartz countertops, a dual-sink vanity with matching mirrors, a standalone soaking tub and a glassed-in shower with grass-like textured tile. Chrome is the metal of choice for the hardware and fixtures.

To be added to the “spa” features later this year is a fenced-in outdoor shower.

While family photographs in the bedroom at the front of the house stir memories, the bedroom in the back is filled with a mix of family-made art and heirlooms and images from vacations the couple and their four adult daughters have taken.

A glass door from the back bedroom leads to a covered concrete deck that stretches almost the entire length of the house. The deck faces Five Mile Creek and the woods of Withrow Nature Preserve and is accessible from the living and great rooms as well as the 2½-car garage.

Walking back to the entry hall, visitors pass a colorful Campari liqueur poster and a large portrait of an 11-year-old Jerry painted by the late College of Mount St. Joseph art instructor John Nartker.

Across the hall is a stairwell that reaches to the roof. It features a light oak staircase with stainless steel chords and rail and leads up to two more bedrooms, the kitchen and a beamed great room. The vaulted room includes a sectional couch and two stuffed chairs, a glassed-in wine closet, recessed lighting and one floor lamp, a 9-by-6 picture window, a gas fireplace, a big-screen television and a separate dining area with chandelier that faces the front yard.

The great room is where they wind down on weekends with wine and the Wall Street Journal or watch birds – on sunny or gray days.

“Even if it’s raining, we don’t care. With all these windows, it doesn’t matter,” Karen Whitney said.

Three bird feeders hang off the fully plumbed, second-story deck where the couple grills out with friends and watches the ever-running creek and forest.

The 30-foot-long deck is party central when the weather is nice, but the kitchen fills the bill in the winter. Stainless steel appliances, a long, two-tiered white quartz cooking and eating island and glossy white and textured gray European-style cabinets give the kitchen the modern feel Karen Whitney prefers.

“It’s a fun, fun, fun kitchen to cook in,” she said. “We hosted Thanksgiving last year, and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to cook the meal. There’s so much space and convenience.”

To the side of the kitchen and overlooking the stairwell’s cathedral-shaped window is a quartz-topped desk that the couple uses as command central, to pay bills and handle other household business. 

Two bedrooms are situated down a hall behind the kitchen, but before them is an inviting, steel-railed spiral staircase. Karen Whitney uses the slanted-wall and naturally lighted bonus room – which has two large cubbyholes behind doors for storage –for yoga, Pilates and TRX workouts. The third floor’s balcony hovers over the kitchen and great room and provides an up-close view of a special light fixture suspended inside the windowed cupola.

“My parents gave us that,” she said of the brass and crystal chandelier. “It came out of the old Shubert Theatre in Cincinnati.” It lights up the great room like a stationary disco ball, her husband said.

A guest room with full bath and the master with bath and massive walk-in closet are back down the spiral staircase and below the bonus room. The couple outfitted their closet with a system purchased at the Container Store that holds all their clothes and accessories. There is no dresser or wardrobe in their room, just open space and a clear view from the bed of the backyard and the rising moon.

“It’s the most wonderful bed to sleep in, until you have to get up,” Karen Whitney said.

'We Took a Gamble on it'

The Whitneys had just remodeled their contemporary house on Little Dry Run Road, which sat on a half-acre and was what they thought they always wanted. Leaving it was far from their minds – until they spotted the old horse barn on Five Mile.

“We took a gamble on it,” said Jerry Whitney, whose experience rebuilding vintage cars equipped him with mechanical skills and gave him confidence they could build their own home.

“Our financial adviser said, ‘You guys are crazy if you don’t do it,’” he said. So they did, but not without sacrifice. Living in a trailer during the treacherous winter of 2013-14 and storing their belongings in a nearby 20-by-30-foot shipping container for 18 months weren’t the only challenges they faced.

“We’d never built a house before or made all the decisions we had to make, sometimes instantaneous ones like when your builder asks, ‘What do I do now?’ and you’ve got to have a decision right then,” he said.

“We turned it into an adventure that we could write a book about,” Jerry Whitney said. “Karen’s quote is, ‘We never thought we would live in a dream house, and now we own one.’ To go from a normal house to this is just amazing. I swear we were meant to be here.”

Chance to See the Whitneys’ House

The 2016 green living tours by the Cincinnati chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council includes the Whitney house on Sept. 17 ($15 for non-members). To join the Green Living Member Circle, click here. The group will tour a modern house in Northside on Jan. 16.

Two European estates in America

Read article : Two European estates in America

The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores MI (which brings us a satisfying instance of the –palooza libfix); and the Castello di Amorosa near Calistoga CA (which offers a range of California wines and also Belgian-style chocolate). The first designed to reproduce the vernacular architecture of the English Cotswolds, the second a fantasy re-creation of an Italian castle.

Traditionally, the great estates of America, designed by and for captains of industry and commerce, had European models — castles and great country houses. They also functioned as art museums or had extensive formal gardens or both. Here in California, think Filoli in Woodside (on the San Francisco peninsula, not far north of where I live) and Hearst Castle in San Simeon (on the Central Coast).

The Edsel and Eleanor Ford house, built in the 1920s, is very much in this tradition, which continues to this day: Castello di Amorosa was built early in this century and opened to the public only 10 years ago.

The Ford estate came to me via Geoff Nathan on ADS-L a few days ago, who wrote about the Pollinator Palooza event there, coming up on the 19th (10-2): an instance of the –palooza libfix in a phonologically satisfying name (long, alliterative, with a nice rhythm).

(#1) 2016 event at Franklin Park in Columbus OH

Back in June Castello di Amorosa came to me from Juan Gomez, who visited it with friends and brought me a  raspberry dark chocolate bar from the shop there:

(#2) “Artisanally made by local gourmet chocolatier, Le Belge, exclusively for the Castello”

Pollinator Paloozas. On the playful libfix, see my 12/18/11 posting “Latkepalooza”, with a section on lollapalooza / lallapalooza, the source of the –palooza libfix.

Then on the event at the Ford house. From its site:

(#3) Monarch butterfly pollinating away

Mix and mingle with live butterflies in our butterfly house and learn about Monarch migrations.

Take a peek into a living bee hive and learn what makes them buzz from the experts at Greentoe Gardens.

Check out live bats from the Organization for Bat Conservation.

Learn about gardening for hummingbirds from Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods.

The corresponding event at the Franklin Park Conservatory has its own webpage, again featuring Monarchs:

(#4) Monarch on purple coneflower

There are even nurseries that specialize in plants for pollinators — in particular, Prairie Moon Nursery, Winona MN, with its Pollinator-Palooza Seed Mix:

Designed for full-sun to partial-shade sites with medium soils, this shortgrass mix boasts grasses and most wildflowers at 3′, with some flowers reaching 5′ at full bloom. Bloom times progress spring through fall. Our Pollinator-Palooza Seed Mix moves beyond more common pollinator mixes by offering plants that appeal to a broad array of pollinating insects. Included in the 45 species are some not commonly available like Late Figwort and Hairy Mountain Mint. Research shows that inclusion of native plantings near agricultural crops greatly enhances crop yield, attracts native pollinators, improves ecosystems and lessens reliance on already-stressed European-introduced honeybees that annually are transported around the country to flowering crops. Pollinator-Palooza’s blend of flowers and grasses will be equally appealing to humans and insects. We believe this mix will help enlighten everyone to the importance of pollinator habitat.

The Ford house. From Wikipedia, quite a bit from a long and detailed article on the estate:

(#5)

The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House is a mansion located at 1100 Lake Shore Drive in Grosse Pointe Shores, northeast of Detroit, Michigan; it stands on the site known as “Gaukler Point”, on the shore of Lake St. Clair. The house became the new residence of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford family in 1929. Edsel Ford was the son of Henry Ford and an executive at Ford Motor Company. The estate’s buildings were designed by architect Albert Kahn, its site plan and gardens by renowned landscape designer Jens Jensen. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

The Fords traveled to England with Albert Kahn for the concept’s ideas, where they were attracted to the vernacular architecture of the Cotswolds. They asked Kahn to design a house that would resemble the closely assembled village cottages typical of that rural region. Kahn’s design included sandstone exterior walls, a traditional slate roof with the stone shingles decreasing in size as they reach its peak, and moss with ivy grown across the house’s exterior. Construction on the house began in 1926.

While construction of the house itself took only one year, two years were spent fitting it with antique wood paneling and fireplaces brought from English Manor houses; interior fittings were in the hands of Charles Roberson, an expert in adapting old European paneling and fittings to American interiors. The Gallery, the largest room in the house, is paneled with sixteenth-century oak linenfold relief carved wood panelling. Its hooded chimneypiece is from Wollaston Hall in Worcestershire, England; the timber-framed house had been demolished in 1925 and its dismantled elements and fittings were in the process of being dispersed. Fourteenth century stained-glass window medallions were added to the house in the late 1930s. Roberson’s barrel-vaulted ceiling for the Gallery was modeled on one at Boughton Malherbe, Kent, England. Paneling and doors in the Dining Room, entirely devoid of electricity, came from ‘New Place’, a victim of early twentieth-century expansion in Upminster, a new suburb of London. The Library’s paneling and its stone chimneypiece came from the Brudenell seat, Deene Park, Northamptonshire, England. Harris suggests that this already once removed paneling had come from another ‘Brudenell seat.’ The Study has a wooden overmantel with the date 1585, from Heronden Hall, in Tenterden, Kent.

Other interesting design elements include kitchen counters made of sterling silver, a “secret” photographic darkroom behind a panel of Edsel Ford’s office, and Art Deco style rooms designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, a leading industrial designer of the 1930s. Teague’s first floor “Modern Room” features ‘the new’ indirect lighting method, taupe colored leather wall panels, and a curved niche with eighteen vertical mirrored sections. He also designed bedrooms and sitting rooms for all three of Edsel and Eleanor’s sons. Teague’s design for son Henry Ford II’s bathroom includes grey glass walls made of the same structural glass as its shower stall.

Furnishings: The house featured an extensive art collection, reflecting Edsel and Eleanor’s status as serious museum benefactors. After Eleanor Ford’s death, many important paintings were donated to the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). Reproductions were hung in their place. The classical French-style Drawing Room features two original Paul Cézanne paintings and reproductions of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas works. A reproduction of Vincent van Gogh’s The Postman Roulin hangs in the Morning Room. An original Diego Rivera painting, Cactus on the Plains, hangs in the Modern Room.

(On Rivera at the DIA, see my 6/15/15 posting “Rivera in Detroit”.)

There are also extensive gardens, where Pollinator Palooza will take place.

Castello di Amorosa. From Wikipedia:

(#6) Castle and vineyards

Castello di Amorosa is a castle and a winery located near Calistoga, California. First opening its doors to the public in April 2007, the castle is the pet project of 4th generation vintner, Dario Sattui, who also owns and operates the V. Sattui Winery named after his great-grandfather who originally established a winery in San Francisco in 1885 after emigrating from Italy to California.

The winery sits on property that was once part of an estate owned by Edward Turner Bale.

The castle interiors, which include 107 rooms on 8 levels above and below ground, cover approximately 121,000 square feet (11,200 m2). Key details and building techniques are architecturally faithful to the 12th and 13th century time period. Among many other features it has: a moat; a drawbridge; defensive towers; an interior courtyard; a torture chamber [an especially nice touch]; a chapel/church; a knights’ chamber; and a 72 by 30 feet (9.1 m) great hall with a 22-foot (6.7 m)-high coffered ceiling.

(#7) The great hall of the Castello

In addition to an assortment of wines, the Castello shop offers chocolate. Ad copy for the chocolate bar 4-pack:

Can’t decide which Castello chocolate bar is your favorite? Why not get all four! Enjoy our Dark Chocolate Sea Salt, Milk Chocolate, La Fantasia Raspberry Chocolate, and Key Lime Sea Salt White Chocolate bars in this enticing 4-pack.

The raspberry bar was quite tasty.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

This entry was posted on August 14, 2017 at 6:43 am and is filed under Architecture, Language and food, Libfixes, Names. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Architects' tour showcases cutting-edge designs | News

Read article : Architects' tour showcases cutting-edge designs | News

High ceilings, walls of glass, most rooms facing greenery. This is not the home John Shea's father built in 1940 in Old Palo Alto.

But it's the new home on the same spot Shea grew up that will be featured on the American Institute of Architects, Santa Clara Valley's third annual, self-guided Silicon Valley Home Tours on June 3, which will include four other homes on the Midpeninsula.

When Shea inherited his family home in 2006, he and his wife, Carolyn, thought they'd be able to remodel the 1,400-square-foot bungalow to allow them to age in place in his childhood neighborhood. But, John said, "It was obvious that the expense of bringing it up to code would be about equal to starting over."

At first they thought they'd build something that matched the traditional architecture on the street. But, "I had always admired the Eichler open floor plans and wanted one like that," Carolyn said.

After interviewing a number of architects, the couple chose Burlingame-based architect Gary Diebel "because he listened to what we said," Carolyn said. When Diebel asked the Sheas to bring in photos of what they liked, he pointed out that they were all modern.

Diebel designed a single-story home on the 10,000-square-foot lot, with a permeable paver driveway running the length and curving into a three-car garage at the very rear. Dense plantings soften the the front yard, blending the low home with the rest of the block.

Glass is a key building material throughout the house, from the sliding pocket doors separating the public spaces from the bedrooms to the clerestory windows in almost every room.

At the very front of the house, facing the street, is the office. One wall and the opposite corner are clad in aluminum, blending with the window valance. A bathroom, with a 14-foot ceiling, those clerestory windows, honed Calacatta Gold marble on the floor and tub/shower walls and a blue glass bowl sink, sits between the office and the guest bedroom.

The hallway is lined with John Shea's photographs. Here the windows are at floor level, to prevent fading of the artwork.

In the living room, below the very high clerestory windows, sits a circular light shelf. "We wanted to balance how the light comes in," Diebel said.

Another architectural challenge was the desire by the Sheas to keep their furniture, including a tall china cabinet. "We told Gary to build the house around it," John said. (He even managed to incorporate a stained-glass window that they had made for a San Francisco condominium.)

A large piece of art hangs from a flat bar over the fireplace; roll it to the side and it reveals the flat-screen TV.

Radiant heating was used throughout the house, and no air conditioning is required, since there is adequate cross-ventilation from the many windows. Most of the flooring is wide-planked walnut.

Two wide openings lead to the kitchen, which features "rain" glass windows over the sink and stovetop, offering privacy from their nearby neighbor. It took two-and-a-half slabs of blue granite to create the long countertops, which complement the darker porcelain tile flooring and stainless-steel appliances.

"There's enough light so we can have dark flooring," Diebel added.

On the other side of the public spaces is the laundry room and master-bedroom suite, which has a high-enough ceiling to accommodate the couple's antique hanging lamps. "They go with us where we go," Carolyn said.

The master bathroom features a sink in each vanity, with granite counters and honed porcelain tile floors. With a nod to aging in place, there's no curb to the shower, and the bottom is a non-slick rock pattern.

Sliding glass doors lead outside. A key piece of landscaping is a 60-foot-plus redwood that John recalls his dad planting from a seedling purchased from the Boy Scouts more than 50 years ago.

Other homes, which range from 2,200 to 10,000 square feet, on the tour include:

• A re-interpretation of a "farmhouse style" home in Palo Alto (Fergus Garber Young Architects, Palo Alto).

• A midcentury-influenced townhome with a skylit, steel staircase in Menlo Park (John Lum Architecture, San Francisco).

• A double-gabled Eichler remodel in Mountain View (Klopf Architecture, San Francisco).

• A structure that interlocks with the land in Portola Valley (Square Three Design Studios, Palo Alto).

The focus of the self-guided tour is to walk through the homes, see the materials up close and to meet the architects, who will be on hand at all five homes.

Freelance writer Carol Blitzer can be emailed at carolgblitzer@gmail.com.

What: AIA Silicon Valley Home Tours

When: Saturday, June 3, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Five homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View and Portola Valley

Cost: $75 general admission; AIA members $59 before June 1 (Purchase tickets here)

Info: 408-298-0611; hometour@aiascv.org; [ http://aiascv.org/page/2017Homes aiascv.org

A Family’s Cramped Bungalow Is Replaced With an Accessible and Affordable Prefab

Read article : A Family’s Cramped Bungalow Is Replaced With an Accessible and Affordable Prefab

Since launching their Los Angeles-based prefab company Connect Homes, Jared Levy and Gordon Stott have worked with scores of modern-design lovers to build their dream homes. But when they received a query from prospective clients complete with concept drawings rendered to look as though they’d been plucked from the architects’ own canon, an incredulous Stott emailed back asking, "Who are you?"

Universal design and affordability were uppermost in the minds of TJ Hill and Jay Heiserman when they asked Jared Levy and Gordon Stott of Connect Homes to replace their cramped bungalow with a modern prefab. Since the firm’s modules are 8 feet wide, the house could only be 16 feet wide, but the architects used the remaining space for a large deck, creating a flexible and seamless first-floor plan.

The couple—disability rights attorney and mental health advocate TJ Hill and Emmy-winning production designer Jay Heiserman—had clearly done their homework. And their dilemma was one that many of Stott and Levy’s clients share: Their older home was ripe for replacement, but they had neither the budget nor the time for a ground-up custom build. 

Ameriwood Home table from AllModern." />

TJ and Jay’s daughter, Chloe, colors at an Ameriwood Home table from AllModern.

Moving wasn’t an option. They loved their Santa Monica neighborhood—an established enclave on the border of Venice—but the charm had worn off the 850-square-foot home they had purchased in 2009. They’d coped with the limited square footage, the water damage, even the termites that rained down from the ceiling, but the steep entry stairs, narrow doorways, and cramped interior presented significant obstacles to TJ’s younger sister, Melissa, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, when she visited from Florida. Things reached a breaking point when the couple’s household expanded to include their daughter, Chloe.

custom Eero Saarinen table for Knoll and vintage Arne Jacobsen chairs for Fritz Hansen. KitchenAid appliances, IKEA cabinets, and Home Depot tile furnish the kitchen. " />

The dining area features a custom Eero Saarinen table for Knoll and vintage Arne Jacobsen chairs for Fritz Hansen. KitchenAid appliances, IKEA cabinets, and Home Depot tile furnish the kitchen. 

"There were lots of things about the house that didn’t work," says TJ, who also serves on the City of Santa Monica Disabilities Commission. "Those barriers are highlighted every day when you have a child and you’re just trying to get a stroller in and out."  

Santa Monica Disabilities Commission with TJ, guided the design." />

Ensuring that the house would be accessible for wheelchair users like Marielle Kriesel, who serves on the Santa Monica Disabilities Commission with TJ, guided the design.

Rebuilding was in order, but the couple wondered if they could construct a house that not only was accessible, affordable, and environmentally friendly, but would adapt to their needs in the coming years. 

"While we’re aging in place, our needs are constantly changing. This house is adaptable and responsive to those changes." TJ Hill, resident

"We always knew we wanted to do prefab—here it is something interesting and beautiful that adds to the character of the street," says TJ (on deck, with Jay, left, and Chloe). "There weren't many options for staying in the area with a growing family," notes Stott.

"More and more of our clients are fitting this mold," Levy explains. "They own homes that were designed for consumer demands and needs that are now close to sixty years old. These homes are at the end of their life expectancy. If TJ and Jay were to rebuild going the conventional route, it would take close to three years through design, approvals, and construction and cost twice as much." 

sculptor David Tanych. " />

For the front deck, the couple chose a dining set by Teak Smith; the driftwood and metal corkscrew is by sculptor David Tanych. 

Whether they’re designing for a lot with views for miles or one in the middle of an urban streetscape, Levy and Stott, who spent more than five years at Marmol Radziner Prefab, believe prefab offers the perfect solution. For TJ and Jay’s 25-by-80-foot property, they set two of their steel-framed 8-by-40-foot modules side by side, with another pair on top. Two 8-by-20-foot modules above a new, site-built garage form the master bedroom and closet. At 1,600 square feet, the four-bedroom, three-bath structure nearly doubled the size of their former home. But because it doesn’t maximize the lot, it adapts comfortably to the neighborhood. 

The master bedroom consists of two modules set above a site-built garage. The fabric is from IKEA. 

Since accessibility was a priority, the architects set the building to one side of the lot, a move that paved the way for a sizable wraparound deck that’s flush with the interior so that Melissa can easily negotiate indoor and outdoor spaces. For now, she and other wheelchair users enter the house via a portable ramp, but once on the property they have full access to the entire first floor.

vintage Danish chair faces a sectional upholstered in Knoll fabric. The Nelson Ball clock is from Vitra and the throw pillows include a Jonathan Adler Seahorse design. Acacia flooring from Reward Hardwood Flooring was used throughout. " />

In the living room, a vintage Danish chair faces a sectional upholstered in Knoll fabric. The Nelson Ball clock is from Vitra and the throw pillows include a Jonathan Adler Seahorse design. Acacia flooring from Reward Hardwood Flooring was used throughout. 

To accommodate an office for Jay (an Ellen DeGeneres Show veteran and now a freelance production designer and art director) that would double as a guest bedroom for Melissa, the architects subtracted 10 feet from the kitchen and dining area. "Our standard Connect4 model doesn’t have a bedroom on the ground floor," notes Stott. "But TJ and Jay knew exactly how they would make it fit for their program and lifestyle needs."

George Nelson Bubble lamp hangs in the stairwell." />

A George Nelson Bubble lamp hangs in the stairwell.

Similarly, the couple’s desire for expansive windows translates to rooms flooded with light and opens up the house to the street. "Gordon and Jared kept asking, ‘Are you sure you want this many windows?’" Jay recalls.

Curtis Jere sculpture hangs above a bed from CB2 in the upstairs guestroom. The Louis Ghost chair is by Philippe Starck for Kartell. " />

A Curtis Jere sculpture hangs above a bed from CB2 in the upstairs guestroom. The Louis Ghost chair is by Philippe Starck for Kartell. 

Continues TJ, "At night, you can see us living in our house: We’re making dinner. Chloe is reading a book. A lot of our neighbors have said, ‘But we can see into the house.’ We have sun shades, but when we were thinking about the house, we were thinking about really being a part of the neighborhood. We did something that breaks molds for the neighborhood and for what people think about modern and indoor/outdoor living."

semigloss wall tile is from Daltile; the floor tile is by Deko. " />

In the downstairs bathroom, the semigloss wall tile is from Daltile; the floor tile is by Deko. 

Levy and Stott are delighted that they could give their clients a home that will meet their needs for the long run. "The core of the business is trying to make architecture more accessible for everybody," says Stott. "And that’s truly at the bottom of the modernist idea: Better design doesn’t have to be expensive. That was the idea more than a hundred years ago, and it’s the same idea now." 

Chloe’s bedroom features a Blake Tovin bed and nightstand from The Land of Nod. The roller blinds throughout are from Steve's Blinds and Wallpaper.