A Rare Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed California Home Sells for $22 Million

A significant Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., has sold for its asking price of $22 million, an enormous price per square foot for the area.

The single-storey, roughly 1,400-square-foot property, on a rocky promontory overlooking Carmel Bay, is the only home of its kind completed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in a coastal environment, according to paperwork submitted for its designation on the National Register of Historic Places. Sitting on a triangular site, the house appears like a ship’s prow growing out of the landscape.

According to the historic places report, the home’s most prominent feature is a hexagonal living room framed in glass panels with panoramic views over the coastline. The three bedrooms are located in wings to the rear of the property, which is shaped like an arrow. Mr. Wright had the lot lowered 4 feet to enable the house to melt into the landscape, the report shows. The house made the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, records show.

The sellers are a group of descendants of the home’s original owner Della Walker, an artist and the widow of Minneapolis lumber executive Clinton Walker. The couple relocated to California in 1904, living there for four decades before Mr. Walker’s death in 1944, the historic places report says. The descendants couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The buyer is Esperanza Carmel LLC, records show. The company’s website describes it as a real-estate investment and development firm. It is headed by Patrice Pastor, a businessman and property developer based in Monaco, and owns other significant properties in the Carmel area. A spokesperson for Esperanza did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Walker originally wrote to Mr. Wright in 1945, asking him to consider the project, according to the historic places report.

“I am a woman living alone—I wish protection from the wind and privacy from the road and a house as enduring as the rocks but as transparent and charming as the waves and delicate as the seashore,” she wrote. “You are the only man who can do this—will you help me?”

Mr. Wright quickly agreed to work on the project, expressing his pleasure that her letter was “brief and to the point.” In later correspondence between the pair, Ms. Walker wrote to the architect that her daughter had sent her a picture of Fallingwater, the architectural house Mr. Wright had designed in Pennsylvania. “If Mr. Wright did this for a stream, what will he do for an ocean,” she said her daughter wrote.

The original construction of the house, constructed from cedar wood, Carmel stone, steel, copper, concrete and glass, was completed in 1952. In 1956, a studio addition was designed by Mr. Wright for Ms. Walker’s craftwork and weaving at the southeast corner of the building. The plans were eventually used to make way for an expanded primary bedroom in 1960, the report says. The total lot size is around 14,000 square feet and includes a small beach, according to the sellers’ agent.

Canning Properties Group of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the sellers in the deal. Jessica Canning said the home was a rare combination of the ideal setting and architectural pedigree. Though she declined to comment on the buyer, she said the property had sold to the buyer with the very first showing.

“They fell in love with it exactly how it is, right down to the pillows and the books,” she said, noting that all the furniture was included in the sale. “The authenticity and character of it was one of the major draws.”

The famous Carmel Butterfly house is named for the shape of its roof. It has an asking price of US$40m

The property is one of a number of architecturally significant homes that have been marketed for sale in Carmel over the past year. Carmel’s Butterfly House, known for its distinctive Midcentury Modern architectural look, is on the market for $40 million. In July, Brad Pitt bought a roughly century-old home designed by Charles Sumner Greene, a prominent early 20th-century architect known for championing the American Arts and Crafts movement, for $40 million.

Australia’s luxury home market is experiencing an “unprecedented surge in prices” due to a limited supply of large homes close to beaches, bays and rivers and strong demand from Australia’s growing high-net-worth population, according to Ray White senior data analyst Atom Go Tian.

The inaugural Ray White Luxury Report reveals luxury homes have risen in value at a much faster rate than median-priced properties across the capital cities over the 10 years from 2014 to 2023. Luxury house prices rose by 84 percent over the decade compared to 70 percent for median-priced houses. Luxury apartment prices soared 58 percent while median apartment prices rose 31 percent.

However, there was a change last year when median prices grew faster than luxury prices for the first time in the decade. CoreLogic analysis shows higher interest rates, which limited people’s borrowing capacity, and rising prices appeared to turbocharge buyer demand in more affordable markets across Australia, with Perth experiencing the most growth among the capital cities in 2023.

Mr Go Tian said some key trends in Australia’s luxury market over the past decade included Brisbane booking the fastest rise in prestige transactions among the major cities, as well as the emergence of the Gold Coast as a “rapidly growing” luxury apartment market. Sydney is the largest prestige market, accounting for 64 percent of national luxury house sales and 51 percent of luxury unit sales.

Interestingly, Australia’s second-smallest capital city – Hobart – recorded the highest luxury house price growth over the decade at 122 percent and the highest luxury apartment price growth at 101 percent.

Here is a summary of the report’s findings on the price growth of Australia’s luxury homes.

Sydney

The luxury house price median is $3.9 million, up 93 percent over the decade, while the median house price is $1.4 million, up 72 percent. In 2023, the suburbs that recorded the most luxury house sales above $5 million were Mosman, Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill. The luxury apartment price median sits at $2.1 million, up 72 percent, while the median apartment price is $794,000, up 25 percent. The suburbs with the most luxury apartment sales above $3 million were Mosman, Darling Point and Pyrmont.

Melbourne

The luxury house price median is $2.5 million, up 71 percent over the decade, while the median house price is $933,000, also up 71 percent. In 2023, the suburbs that had the most luxury house sales above $5 million were Toorak, Brighton and Kew. The luxury apartment price median is $1.3 million, up 51 percent, while the median apartment price is $603,000, up 27 percent. The suburbs with the most luxury apartment sales above $3 million were Toorak, Melbourne CBD and Brighton.

Brisbane

The luxury house price median is $1.8 million, up 103 percent over the decade, while the median house price is $838,000, up 82 percent. In 2023, the suburbs that recorded the most luxury house sales above $5 million were Hamilton, Park Ridge and New Farm. The luxury apartment price median is $1.1 million, up 51 percent, while the median apartment price is $554,000, up 35 percent. The suburbs with the most luxury apartment sales above $3 million were New Farm, Newstead and Brisbane City.

Perth

The luxury house price median is $1.7 million, up 49 percent over the decade, while the median house price is $676,000, up 25 percent. In 2023, the suburbs that had the most luxury house sales above $5 million were Cottesloe, Dalkeith and Mosman Park. The luxury apartment price median sits at just over $1 million, up 15 percent, while the median apartment price is $453,000, up 0.7 percent. The suburbs with the most luxury apartment sales above $3 million were South Perth, North Fremantle and West Perth.

Adelaide

The luxury house price median is $1.6 million, 2.2 times higher than in 2014, while the median house price is over $700,000, up 78 percent. In 2023, the suburbs that had the most luxury house sales above $5 million were North Adelaide, St Peters and Medindie. The luxury apartment price median is $994,000, up 52 percent, while the median apartment price is just under $500,000, up 44 percent. The suburbs with the most luxury apartment sales above $3 million were Dulwich, Adelaide CBD and Glenelg.

Hobart

The luxury house price median is $1.5 million, up 122 percent over the decade, while the median house price is $742,000, up 112 percent. In 2023, the suburbs that recorded the most luxury house sales above $5 million were Sandy Bay, Old Beach and North Hobart. The luxury apartment price median sits at $1.04 million, up 100 percent, while the median apartment price is $564,000, up 102 percent. The suburbs with the most luxury apartment sales above $3 million were Sandy Bay, Battery Point and Hobart.

Darwin

The luxury house price median is just over $1 million, up 18 percent over the decade, while the median house price is just over $600,000, up 5 percent. In 2023, the suburbs that recorded the most luxury house sales above $5 million were Larrakeyah, Darwin City and Palmerton City. The luxury apartment price median is $724,000, down 0.6 percent, while the median apartment price is $388,000, down 12 percent. The suburbs that had the most luxury apartment sales above $3 million were Fannie Bay, Darwin City and Larrakeyah.

A Rare Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed California Home Sells for $22 Million

The ship-like house is the only one of its kind by the architect on the ocean

A new property report reveals an ‘unprecedented surge’ in luxury home values as demand continues to outstrip supply