See the original Craftsman home

Guest Cottage for Craftsman Home

1996 Best In American Living Grand Award Winner: Best Custom Home in the Nation Under 4,000 s.f.

This 2,200 square foot guest cottage echoes the Craftsman style of the owner's original residence with its cedar columns and beams, stonework (Californian "desert driftwood" from the Mohave Desert), and mitered glass. The cottage is free standing, and relates to the main house from a distance by lavish landscaping and water features: falls, streams and a rocky, spring-like pool.

In its rustic elegance, the cottage harmonizes perfectly with its site, giving its guest dignitaries from around the world an unforgettable experience of American Craftsman architecture. Bold, pristine geometry generates a striking form when viewed from any angle. Interior spaces are open and flowing at the entry level, cozy and intimate upstairs. Mitered glass exterior corners provide sweeping views of the grounds and lake, while front and rear entry porches shelter the French door entries from sub-tropic weather.

Upstairs, the sunset lakeview balcony (the cottage faces due east) has a sheltering roof which is low enough to be touched at its eaves. To avoid two-story massing which would compete with the main ranch house, each of the two bedrooms is nested in a gable, offering the attic-like charm of sloping ceilings and a large semicircular window at the ends. Each bedroom has a beautiful private bath of warm brown marble, with original stained glass doors. Above each tub, trapezoid windows follow the slope of the front porch roof, providing a view of trees and sky while retaining privacy.