Shelter 77

Bought with M*C*M — designed by Don Jacobs FAIA and built by Matt Sylvia, 1977. 

The Sea Ranch was founded in 1964 when Oceanic Properties hired architect Al Boeke to find the site, and Boeke fell for ten miles of sheep ranch on the Sonoma coast. He assembled the team that would define TSR: Lawrence Halprin on the master plan, Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker for the prototype Condominium One, and Joseph Esherick for the first cluster of homes. Matt Sylvia was recruited to build most of the original development (roughly 200 structures across forty years). The founding principle was "living lightly on the land". Today, the community has grown to more than 2,200 homes governed by a Design Committee and covenant that keeps the original vision intact sixty years on.

Don Jacobs opened his practice at The Sea Ranch in 1970 and designed over 100 custom homes there before moving south in 1986. He chaired the Design Committee for years and was awarded the Sea Ranch Distinguished Architect Award in 2022 alongside Donlyn Lyndon and Obie Bowman.

M&R and I have known each other for years through the Eichler world. They came to me looking for a second place on the coast, somewhere they'd already been spending time. We looked everywhere from The Sea Ranch up to Manchester over many weekend trips. This one had been sitting awhile, and the disclosures suggested it needed some work that may push us over budget, but we decided to check it out anyways.

We arrived in the afternoon near the end of one of our tour days. When we opened the slider there was a beam of light coming through the kitchen skylight, and the house still smelled like Doug Fir from 1977. That was the moment. Nothing is ever easy, but we assembled a great team to get it all done. Thank you to Nicholas at LaSalle Mortgage, and to Lisa & Patty at Kennedy & Associates, who were all graceful under pressure through a close full of surprises. And, congrats M&R, we've got some restoration work to do!