A Retreat High Above Big Sur, $1.85M

by Philip Ferrato

Heinz Legler and Veronique Lievre—a multi-hyphenate creative couple with broad experience in residential and leisure design/build projects, film sets and more recently, their gloriously remote boutique hotel, Venana, overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the mountains near Puerto Vallarta—have put their Big Sur retreat on the market. Unlike the expensive faux-rustic homes the area has become known for, theirs is a simple frame dwelling on five acres overlooking the ocean with a laid back and almost ad hoc esthetic: one bedroom and bath with multiple work spaces, plus a board-and-batten guest house, all more in tune with the rustic camps of Big Sur’s countercultural past.

There’s no artifice here, and one gets the sense that reuse and lumber yard practicality informed their design choices.

The simple bath is a wet room, entirely lined in tile, adjacent to the open sleeping area.

Things get even simpler in the perfect guest cottage, that is essentially a very stylish shed with a view and a plywood-clad interior.

Visit the listing for additional images and details. A unique opportunity to own a casual but design-forward hideaway above the Pacific, represented by architecture specialist Brian Linder, AIA, founder of The Value of Architecture team at Compass.