This Coastal California Home Was Designed for a Family of Surfers
The desire for a soulful, bohemian lifestyle with proximity to some of central California’s surf breaks is what inspired the design of this home in Santa Cruz. Designed for a local family by San Francisco-based Feldman Architecture, Commune Design, and Ground Studio landscaping, the glass-walled and flat-roofed two-story pavilion is perched on a bluff above Santa Cruz’s most popular surf break and offers casual oceanfront living through a lens of high design, coupled by local materiality that exudes a familiar, relaxed vibe.
The family envisioned a home true to coastal California, using materials like Monterey cypress, a native species along the central and northern coast of California, for both the interiors and the exterior “Monterey cypress for northern California is equivalent to palm trees for southern California,” says Chris Kurrle, partner at Feldman Architecture. “It’s kind of a ubiquitous coastal tree. They wanted something that provided a connection to the outdoors year-round.”
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The property was a challenge from the get-go, with the site subject to year-round winds and a geologic setback requirement limiting the building envelope. The floor plan for the home was kept simple, and a spacious courtyard for year-round relaxing and entertaining was positioned on the land side of the house, where it is protected from the wind. “The configuration of the building allowed us to provide a year-round base that got a lot of sun but was protected from the fog and the coastal winds,” he says. “Yet, on the backside of the house, there’s a ‘wow’ moment with a 180-degree view of the Pacific and cliff, looking down to Monterey and Moss Landing.”
An outdoor fireplace anchors a large seating area in the courtyard, and an outdoor shower area is the perfect spot to rinse off after the beach, while a separate storage and entertainment pavilion has plenty of space for surfboards, wetsuits, and other beach-going equipment, along with a wet bar for mixing up aprés-surf refreshments.
“We call it the ‘board room’ because it basically is a structure that houses all the surfboards and it’s the same size as the garage,” Kurrle says. “It has this really cool kind of clamshell door that opens up to the courtyard, and we put a bar in there that basically serves the courtyard. It’s a fun moment, whether you’re waxing boards and drawing gear out or entertaining.”
Feldman tapped sawyer Evan Shiveley of Arborica to provide the locally sourced timber. Arborica, a local outfit that reclaims and repurposes native Californian timber, provided both the interior and exterior wood, the latter of which will weather into a gray hue over the years, similar to shingle-style homes in the Hamptons and New England. Sustainability was also an important factor for both Feldman and Arborica. Kurrle explains that working with a log is not unlike sourcing a ribeye or filet, and often only the best parts of the wood are used. Arborica, however, used every type of wood grade within the log to finish the home.
The home, completed in 2019, has four bedrooms in about 4,500 square feet. The interiors feature Monterey cypress wood with a clean, contemporary aesthetic. The warm and inviting atmosphere is met with modern furnishings and art inspired by 1970s surf culture.
Inside, the home has an open-plan layout with a seamless indoor-outdoor connection. In the great room, on the ocean side of the house, floor-to-ceiling glass panels glide open to a huge deck with a hot tub and a stainless-steel outdoor kitchen and grilling area. Closer to the bluff’s edge, a graveled patio includes a fire pit.
Click here for more photos of Surf House in Santa Cruz.
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