$4.75 Million Homes in California – The New York Times

Los Angeles | $4.785 MillionA 1936 cottage with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, on a 0.4-acre lot

Thomas Callaway, an interior designer, acquired this stucco house with a shingled roof about 20 years ago and altered it to look like an English cottage in the Cotswolds. He added beams and half-timbering inside and covered the whole structure in solid stone. The house is on Mandeville Canyon Road in the Brentwood neighborhood, about four miles southwest of the Getty Center. Downtown Los Angeles is about 18 miles east.

Size: 2,660 square feet

Price per square foot: $1,799

Indoors: Mr. Callaway kept the homes original footprint, but not much else. The living room was replastered and half-timbered. (The walls have wide bead-board paneling, and the ceiling between the rafters is tongue and groove.)

The dining room was created by enclosing an outdoor patio (along with its fireplace), and has a Dutch door opening to the grounds. In the library, an eight-foot ceiling was raised through the attic to create a vaulted space. Between the beams is a distressed stenciled design based on a William Morris pattern, and the walls are paneled in English oak. Built-in bookcases surround a leaded-glass bay window.

The kitchen, which was not extensively made over, has blue-and-white tile accents, a breakfast area and a Dutch door.

For the walls of the vaulted master bedroom, Mr. Callaway applied a stenciled thistle pattern that he developed for a client. The guest bedroom has a William Morris paper.

Outdoor space: The hilly grounds were leveled, and the backyard landscaping was designed around an old oak tree. Stone walls and patios were added, along with a stone dovecote. (It was never used to house birds, just stuff.) The gardens bloom with wisteria and other ornamentals. Parking is in an attached two-car garage.

Taxes: $59,813 (estimated)

Contact: Mary Beth Woods, Coldwell Banker, 310-463-1599; marybethwoods.com

This house is in the Marina district. According to a JCP-LGS hazard disclosure report, it is on a non-liquefaction lot that offers more stability in an earthquake than other zones in this seismically vulnerable neighborhood. It is within walking distance of a variety of restaurants, shops and entertainment sites, including those arrayed along nearby Chestnut and Union Streets. The 13-acre Fort Mason park with its arts and cultural center is a half-block north, and the Moscone Softball Fields are a block west. The nearest Safeway supermarket and Muni rail station are two blocks away.

Size: 3,985 square feet

Price per square foot: $1,192

Indoors: The front door opens on the main level to a wide foyer that turns left into a dining room with textured wall covering and a silver ceiling. Here and throughout the home are spacious proportions, inlaid hardwood floors and elegant moldings.

The dining room connects through an archway to a living room with a bow-fronted window facing the street and a wood-burning fireplace flanked by bookshelves.

Straight down the entrance hallway is a white marble kitchen with industrial lighting and high-end appliances; it flows into a family room with two walls of built-ins (including a wine refrigerator), followed by a sunroom with three walls of windows. A powder room with a marble sink is also on this floor.

Front and back staircases ascend to the upper level, more than half of which is taken up by the master suite. The master bedroom sits above the living room and also has a bow-fronted window and a fireplace. Two walk-in closets with built-ins extend over the entire 24-foot width of the floor, and the larger closet connects to a skylighted master bathroom with marble finishes, a soaking tub and a walk-in glass shower. Next to it is a laundry room with two sets of washers and dryers.

Two additional bedrooms share a hallway bathroom with double sinks and a combined tub and shower. Each of the rooms has direct access to a rear sunroom.

The lower level includes a three-car garage in front; in the back are 725 square feet of finished space, including a rec room or fourth bedroom with a wet bar, an attached sitting room and a full bathroom. There is also a wine cellar.

Outdoor space: A spiral staircase descends from the main level to the large paved rear patio. It is surrounded by a garden border and a wood fence.

Taxes: $59,375 (estimated)

Contact: Ruth Krishnan, Compass, 415-735-5867; compass.com

Jorge Engel, an architect based in San Diego, designed this home with monumental gestures, expensive woods and nine varieties of granite. It is across from a golf course in a gated community of 35 properties, about 24 miles north of San Diego and four miles from Pacific Coast beaches.

Size: 8,817 square feet

Price per square foot: $539

Indoors: The house is entered by a bridge supported by stone pillars. The main level has a living room with a tray ceiling, a wet bar and a wood-burning slate fireplace, as well as a game room and four bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and enormous closets. The master suite contains a fireplace and a private balcony. Two of the guest rooms have sleeping lofts reached by ladder.

The lower level is where youll find the kitchen and attached family room, a dining room, a second living room, an additional guest suite and a laundry room. There is also a bathroom and changing room convenient to the pool.

The kitchen has zebrawood cabinets with granite countertops and a stainless steel hood that rises and runs like a ribbon across the ceiling.

The dining room has a geometric, multi-armed chandelier with conical frosted-glass shades and built-in stone-topped credenzas. It opens to an outdoor patio.

Outdoor space: The covered outdoor granite kitchen is big, but it is dwarfed by the 75-foot-long saltwater pool with an even longer monumental structure that frames the landscape.

Taxes: $59,367 (estimated)

Contact: Jason Barry, Barry Estates, 858-756-4024; jasonbarryteam.com

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$4.75 Million Homes in California - The New York Times