La Selva Beach, Calif. | $1.25 Million
A sculptural concrete house built in the early 1970s, with one bedroom and one bathroom, on a 4,792-square-foot lot with ocean views
In 1972, Mary Gordon, a landscape architect, designed an organic concrete house near the beach in an unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County, which she intended to use as retirement quarters for herself and her husband. Constructed by boat builders with tubular forms protruding from a rounded base, including a windowed cylinder emerging from the top like a periscope the house ultimately became Ms. Gordon’s studio and a showplace for her gardening talents. Seven years ago, it was sold to a second owner, who made it homier by adding a stainless-steel spiral staircase inside and improving the kitchen and bathroom.