Overview

San Francisco-based architect T. Olle Lundberg designed this grand residence for a site perched above Napa Valley. While it afforded views out, Lundberg was careful to blend the residence into its context, keeping rooflines low, and using materials that would age to match natural earthtones. The architect also chose materials that were fire-resistant in a region prone to serious fires, such as the one that swept through Calistoga, CA, in 10/2017.

Building History

This large-scale, Napa Valley residence took several years to design and construct. The design phase began at least in 1995 and construction did not finish until 1998. Set in fire-prone surroundings, the house had a steel-frame design, and had an irregularly-curved bow-string roof covering its cruciform plan. (The roof was covered in zinc, again, resistant to fires.) The owner purchased a lot elevated above a vineyard and other views of Napa Valley. The house contained 10,000 square feet, (about five times the scale of many American homes) not including extensive terraces and decks located off many of the rooms. At the end of one of the cross's axes, lay a garage with space for multiple cars; just off line of the other end stood a large master suite. A guest wing stood on the end of the other cross axis. On the other end of this, architect T. Olle Lundberg placed the kitchen, dining room and living room.

Building Notes

The architect, Lundberg Design said this of the Crull House on its web site: "The Crull House is located in St. Helena, California, in the heart of the Napa Valley. A cruciform in plan, it straddles a knoll in such a way as to offer a different view/orientation to each of the four wings of the house. The master bedroom has a view of the valley, the living/dining area looks out onto the property's vineyards, the guest room wing looks into the forest and the pool area, and even the garage (which can double as a party space) has a view into an oak grove. Although it is a big house, almost 10,000 square feet under roof, the cruciform plan breaks up the massing so that only about one half of the house can be viewed at any one time. Most of the roof stays below the tree canopy, and its gentle asymmetrical curve recalls the form of many of the surrounding tree boughs. The roof is sheathed in standing seam zinc, which has weathered to a soft, mouse-skin gray, resulting in a building that sits very gently upon the landscape. As contemporary as its form is, from the valley floor and the neighboring properties it is completely invisible, and very private in feeling." (See Lundberg Design.com, "Crull Residence," accessed 03/13/2018.)

PCAD id: 21845