Carmel Heritage Society House and Garden Tour 2015 – Part 2 – Stonehaven, Pope House, and Banyon Hideaway

Stonehouse 

6 SE of Thirteenth on Dolores

La Von E. “Lee” Gottfried was born on a farm in Ohio, July 12, 1896.  Educated to the high school level, he began his business career with Pacific Telephone Company.  In June of 1917, Lee Gottfried enlisted in the United States Army serving in the Signal Corps in France where he was in charge of telephone and telegraph construction. In 1919 he was honorably discharged having attained the rank of first lieutenant. 

In 1920 Lee came to Carmel and began work as a general contractor.  One of his first commissions was the construction of Edward Kuster‘s stone house at the intersection of Ocean View and Bay View on Carmel Point. 

Gottfried and Kuster were familiar with medieval European architecture – it is Lee Gottfried (along with Kuster) who are credited with the transformation of the Ocean Avenue business district from a Western “false front” (Carmel Bakery) to the Old World charm of a European village (Court of the Golden Bough).

After arriving in Carmel, Lee met Miss Bonnie Hale, a native of Berkeley who had lived in Carmel since 1906.  They married and in 1921 Gottfried built his family a home on the east side of Dolores, south of Thirteenth.  The family lived there until 1941. 

Built in an “H” shape, Stonehouse’s exterior walls are uncoursed (randomly laid) Carmel stone.  

The roof, a rolled over eave to appear as if thatched.
Windows, diamond pattern with leaded glass. 

  In 1939 a large back bedroom
 was added to the south east elevation. 

In 1996, the current owners reconfigured the front entry into a vestibule. 

Off the spacious living area 

is a cozy room with rounded ceilings and original fireplace. 

The current owners raised the ceiling in the kitchen 

and added leaded windows 

to keep the original style and character of the home. 

Pope House

2981 Franciscan Way 

Julia Morgan was born January 20, 1872.  She was the first woman to receive a degree in engineering at U. C. Berkeley, the first woman to complete course work in architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the first woman architect licensed in California.  She designed nearly 800 buildings, the most famous being Hearst Castle.
  


In 1940 Ms. Morgan built this home on Franciscan Way for her friend from U. C. Berkeley, Dr. Emma Whitman Pope. Before retiring to Carmel, Dr. Pope was a general practitioner who had been married to Dr. Saxton Pope, a surgeon at Watsonville Hospital, until his death in 1926. 

While Ms. Morgan built this house, she was staying at her own studio-cottage in Monterey, and she walked the five miles to Carmel and back to supervise the construction, saying that she “needed the practice in walking” after a bout of labyrinthitis. (1)

The Pope House, built in Minimum Traditional style, features a large window in the living area that overlooks the Carmel Mission.

  

Bleached redwood interior walls 

and beams that give the living space

 a feel of lightness and openness.  

The original house was a two bedroom. 

In 1960 a third bedroom was added to the back of the house.

In 2011 the current owners renovated the 1960’s addition, going to great lengths to make the original house and the renovation appear seamless, matching all flooring, wall, and window materials as closely as possible. 

The space from the old third bedroom is now a beautiful and spacious master, 

breakfast nook,

 

and modern and functional galley kitchen. 

There are two wonderful outdoor spaces.
The first off the laundry room. 

This comfortable sitting area is surrounded by a cooks garden with fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs ready for picking.

The second outdoor space features
a charming stone fire pit.

Banyon Hideaway
28987 Mission Street 

Mark Mills was born in Jerome, Arizona in 1921. After graduating from the University of Colorado with a degree in Architectural Engineering, Mills apprenticed for Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West from 1944 – 1948.

Mills came to Carmel in the early 1950’s to help contractor Miles Bain with the construction of Mrs. Clinton Walker’s house on Scenic.  Mrs. Walker’s house was the only house in Carmel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

After completion of the Walker House, Mrs. Walker offered Mills the opportunity to plan and build two homes in Carmel for speculation.  Mills accepted the offer and settled in Carmel with his family.

Banyon Hideaway was the first of the two spec houses designed by Mark Mills in Carmel.  The house was sold to Mills’ father for $17,000.  

Not very visible from the street, it was a real treat to go behind the gate and tour this home.  

Throughout the structure, concrete walls and posts feature the “desert-masonry” concept that Mills helped to perfect while he apprenticed at Taliesin West.  

The living area features a steep A-frame
with a dramatic triangular shaped window,

and  a glass skylight which

 runs the length of the roof ridge. 

Mills signature use of “desert-masonry” 

and triangular shapes is seem throughout

         

                      

the interior living room 

and bedrooms.  The current owner has added 

stained glass to many of the windows. 

Outside, 

the current owner has transformed the property into a tropical oasis

 with ferns, fountains, 

and 

a Koi pond,  

and tranquil lounge areas

for quiet conversation
 tucked around the property – 

even on the roof of the carport! 

In Part 3 of the 2015 Carmel Heritage Society House and Garden Tour we will view three more unique homes of Carmel, Mrs. Della Walker’s house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, The Ship House designed by former Mayor of Carmel Allen Knight and the Golf House site of Carmel’s first and only golf course. 

Video of highlights of the eight historical homes of the 2015 House and Garden Tour. 

Google map of location of houses may be viewed here.  
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(1) Boutelle, Sara Homes, Julia Morgan Architect (Abbeville Press: Revised Edition, August 1, 1995) 

Photos by L. A. Momboisse