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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
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Del Mar Oceanfront Property an Architectural Masterpiece

The minimalist simplicity of the facade of the oceanfront home at 2932 Camino Del Mar in Del Mar is but an invitation to the architectural masterpiece behind its gated exterior.

In the huge front courtyard that can accommodate more than a dozen vehicles, an old twisted Japanese Black Pine tree reaches toward the sky; its curious shape reminiscent of a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece. Its presence foreshadows the artistry behind the gate beyond.

The clean-lined, redwood gate is framed on the right by a concrete half wall embedded randomly with large red rocks. The address is discreetly hand-carved into one of the odd-shaped stones.

“This home is extremely rare in a very rare setting; it’s one of only six lots that span from Camino Del Mar all the way to the ocean front,” said Kathy Herington, a realtor with Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty.

Herington, a North County native, has been in real estate in San Diego for 10 years and was my guide through the home during a recent San Diego Modern Home Tour. Before Herington became a realtor, she was a singer with the locally renowned nostalgia band the Mar Dels for 13 years. Prior to that she was a lifeguard on the North Shore in Oahu and competed in Hawaii’s legendary surf contests on its notorious and challenging swells.

Herington, Eric Iantorno and Clinton Selfridge of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty have the listing on the 4,620-square-foot home with 60 feet of ocean front footage. The home is listed from $17.95 million to $19.95 million.

“It was designed by local architect Sim Bruce Richards, who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright,” Herington said. “Richards is known for his woodsy, organic architecture, bringing the outdoors in.”

Indeed, as soon as the gate swings open, Richards’ unerring artful eye for shapes, elevations, focal points and the role of nature in a living space is palpable.

A slatted wood arbor over a brick pathway leads past the one-bedroom en suite guest cottage. The pathway gently curves around large planters made of the same concrete and red rock style that surround the front gate. Sycamores and other unusual tree and landscape specimens invoke a sense of calm. The space widens to the width of the lot to reveal a long rectangular pool with a signature Frank Lloyd Wright design element. A spa beckons nearby.

But instantly the eye is drawn straight ahead to the two-story windows that wrap the front and back of the home and look through to the ocean’s horizon.

Once through the double-hung front doors with arts and crafts era stained glass panels, the main home has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, “mostly built of cedar, there’s redwood combined with artfully crafted stone masonry,” Herington said.

The living room has soaring vaulted ceilings; its centerpiece is a massive fireplace made from the same stone and concrete treatment on the exterior as well as an interior design element throughout. The first level is the living area, kitchen, dining room all with views to the ocean. In the rear are two guest suites.

Hand-carved balustrades, no two the same, frame the stairwell to the second story and form a half-wall for the loft-like master bedroom. The master bedroom feels as if it is floating out over the water and has its own exterior deck. The master bedroom suite includes a den on the front of the home with a signature midcentury modern window that welcomes the morning light.

Much of the flooring throughout the home is made from small, end-cut cedar squares, each with a different color and hue. Elsewhere the floors are natural red sandstone bricks.

The kitchen is a timeless design of warm wood cabinets and stone countertops blended with modern appliances. Even the heating vents disappear artfully into the wood-paneled walls. Herington said the home is built with a “combination of wood — no drywall, paint or wallpaper at all in the home.”

Off the entire back length of the home, a multilevel, red brick patio is protected by a sturdy seawall and serves as a kind of stage from which one can live in harmony with the house, land and sea.

Herington said this is the first time the home has been offered for sale since it was built by the owner in 1982.

“I know the home was built with a lot of heart and soul,” she said. “And you can really feel it when you’re there; you feel like you’re somewhere else.”

Send luxury real estate items to

sglidden@sdbj.com.

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