Description
Nearby Beach Accessible From Public Path
Our path to Pohl Road on Vashon Island
Linda’s mother loved Vashon ever since she lived at the north end in the late 1930s, and moved her own family to Klahanie Beach on the east side in 1959, when Linda was three. What an idyllic spot to grow up!
Larry’s family farmed oranges in Anaheim and later in the San Joaquin Valley of California. We moved down to care for the groves and Larry’s mother. In 1990 we decided to return to Washington to be closer to Linda’s family.
Location was most important, with privacy paramount. We both grew up on beaches and hoped for waterfront. We required a large enough residence for personal offices from which we run our businesses. We need plenty of acreage for privacy, shop space for cars and wood working projects, and room for an orchard and garden.
The search began.
Nothing on Vashon was quite right at the time. We combed the coast from north of Bellingham south to Vancouver. Everything we found was either too small, too dark, too open, too crowded, over our budget, or in general too many negatives to compromise.
We went back to work in California and soon got a call about this property. We headed back up and fell in love.
The previous owner had cleared most of the fir trees in the 1970s, so we slogged our way through the blackberries and scotch broom til we reached the edge of the bank.
One look at the sweeping view over Puget Sound and we were smitten. Better yet, it has the correct climactic and soil conditions to plant a small wine grape vineyard (though we never got around to planting it).
The only problem: We had to build.
We swore we would never build another house, so a major compromise indeed. If you have looked into this yourself, you know that building a home on unimproved acreage in King County is not for sissies.
It took years to get through the architectural and engineering designs, the application and endless permitting processes, drilling the well, installing septic and electric, and finally actually constructing our dream home. On December 31, 1999 we hosted a Y2K party with much of the finish work incomplete. But what a celebration! We were finally in!
For the last 20+ years, this property provided everything our hearts could desire.
- A mere mile to the Tahlequah ferry that goes to Point Defiance in Tacoma.
- Close to Tacoma and Pearl Street shopping, restaurants, medical, and easy access to I-5.
- Close to Gig Harbor, where we kept our sailboat in Murphy’s Landing Marina.
- Walk across the ferry to Pt. Defiance Park to ride bikes on the five mile trek and visit the animals at the Point Defiance Zoo.
- 4 acres provides plenty of room for organic vegetable gardens, orchard, auto shop and woodworking/boat storage shop. (Our next door neighbors may have the most beautiful natural landscaped yard on Vashon – our focus has been more on fruit and vegetable gardening … leaving you the opportunity to create your dream landscape.)
- Wildlife galore! We hope you love our furred and feathered friends as much as we do.
- Pure water, unadulterated with chlorine or fluoride, from a well pumping over 13 gallons per minute.
- 3,000 gallon water storage tank providing domestic, irrigation and fire sprinkler water.
- Wonderful neighbors who value both privacy and community spirit.
- 180° view south almost to the ferry dock and north past Olalla, looking directly toward the entry to Gig Harbor.
- Finally, a large, 3-story home with large rooms and space for living, offices, portrait studio with a dark room in the finished basement, and a solarium. (Because you just can’t have too many plants …)
The variety of ways this property can be utilized is limited only by your own needs and imagination
All things have their time to shine. As we age, it’s time for us to downsize and get back to traveling. We’re ready to turn the reins over to someone who will love this land as much as we do.
Want to spare yourself the challenges and frustrations of building a new house? Read more below about the features to decide if this may be your perfect new dream home.
Then the house.
Main Floor
The 8′ entry doors, constructed on site from Honduras mahogany, are surrounded by Redwood siding. From those ancient Redwood forests, it was harvested in the 1890s by Christian Brothers Winery of Napa Valley to create their wine tanks.
Using this recycled wood for our home was particularly meaningful to Larry, who consulted with Brother Timothy when producing the coffee table book, “Winemakers of the Pacific Northwest”. After Brother Timothy retired in 1986, the Brothers decided to close the winery and disassemble the redwood wine tanks.
This elegant wood graces the home’s siding, interior doors, ceilings and solarium walls. As you walk through the entry, you will look up toward the ceiling and see the beauty. The north great room wall is vertically planked with the redwood base that held up the tanks; each board is 24 feet long and 12 inches wide.
The flooring of the top and main stories is constructed from long leaf yellow southern pine, reclaimed out of ceiling beams from a factory in Georgia. Recently a visitor commented that he instantly knew the wood was reclaimed because the planks are so wide. Long leaf yellow southern pine wood is dense, hard, and durable. Not to mention beautiful.
In the winter you will enjoy the warmth of the SW facing rounded wall of windows in the Great Room. The sun is low in the sky by the time it reaches that side, providing winter light. But in the summer, the sun is higher overhead so does not directly hit the windows to bake you. The architect was knowledgeable and concerned about solar heating and cooling.
When it’s cold outside, you will feel the comfort of the two brick masonry fireplaces. Using a series of internal flues to retain heat, this design is fired intermittently at very high temperature to heat up the large quantity of thermal mass, which then radiates into the home. The efficiency will keep you comfortable if the power is out for an extended period.
If you don’t wish to burn wood, just turn on one of the two 5 ton heat pumps.
Surrounded by dark wood cabinets and shelves, the media room presently contains over 500 VHS tapes and a some laser discs. Most of them can go with the house, if you wish. Or you can use the shelves for any number of things. A cozy room to relax in the evenings.
The kitchen has custom cabinets, granite countertops and and a large walk-in pantry for storage galore. The front is lined with windows facing west, with a view toward Gig Harbor. And a magnificent fig tree (Linda says “trees are a view”). Over the large butcher-block counter is another sliding window facing into the solarium.
Inside the glass-roofed solarium, easy-care slate floor and redwood siding provides a feeling of warmth and connection with nature – a relaxing place for morning coffee, tea or an evening beverage during the winter. A little too warm in the summer, but when it’s that nice, you’ll want to be outside on the brick patio.
Going back to Larry’s citrus roots, among other plants in the solarium we grow oranges and lemons in pots, which thrive in the winter. This year the tree grew over 30 large navel oranges and the lemons produce year-round. (May be more fun than cost-effective, but if you don’t want to keep the citrus, we’ll find them new homes.)
- Laundry and master suite occupies the north end of the main floor. The second masonry heater is in the sitting area of the master bedroom in the wall between the bedroom and master bath, where it can heat both rooms. The master bath has two separated sink and marble counters, a marble soaking tub and tiled shower with dual heads and glass block wall.
The huge walk-in closet can be accessed from either the hall or the master bathroom. (Images coming.)
Top Floor
The stairway lands behind the brick chimney. The hall, which is lined with book shelves, looks over the open concept living area below.
The room to the right is currently Larry’s office, with marble floors, counter with sink and window facing north. We installed plumbing connections under the marble, so it could be converted to another bedroom with bathroom en suite. (Images coming.)
At the south end of the hall are a guest bedroom and bathroom featuring a claw foot tub and marble counters. Another bedroom currently used as office space opens to an outside deck overlooking the garden and lower lawn, as well as an inside deck overlooking the solarium (Linda’s favorite spot). This deck also opens to another office space originally intended as a recreation or pool room. The spectacular west facing view over the water just might be the best in the house.
Bottom Floor
More than a typical basement, this floor contains the two mechanical rooms that serve the house. Each of these is large enough for extra storage, and one has basic bathroom facilities (toilet, tiled stall shower and sink).
The temperature controlled wine cellar features rounded redwood ceiling and two chandeliers. The exterior concrete underground walls keep temperatures around 54 to 55 degrees – perfect for wine storage.
The remainder of the 2,341 square feet of basement is fully insulated, with a sliding glass door that exits to a stairway leading to the ground level patio. We use this area for storage, photography studio and darkroom, but it can serve as a separate living area. The darkroom could easily be converted to kitchen.
Gardens:
The property is mostly level with a gentle slope at the far south end toward the bank above the water. Here you have a mature orchard with cherries, and plum tree. A small fig tree is competing with a blackberry bush that Linda insists on keeping so she can pick berries for breakfast in the summer.
Just below the solarium is a large organic garden, where we harvest fresh produce much of the year. If you are not into gardening, this space would make a wonderful patio, tennis court or even revert to lawn.
Features:
- 4.44 acres
- 9,676 SF incl solarium and garage
- 3 oversized garage bays
- Huge master suite incl sitting area, marble bath & walk-in closet
- Two large bedrooms upstairs
- Office space that can be converted to bedroom
- Bonus room for office or recreation
- Four bathrooms (two full, one powder and a 3/4)
- Granite counters in kitchen
- Walk-in pantry in kitchen
- Wine Cellar
- Finished basement
- Brick patio
- Enclosed quonset style shop
- Shop building with open door for boat or RV parking
- Lawn sprinkler
- Two 5-ton heat pumps
- Two brick masonry wood heaters
- New roof in 2022
- Built-in House Vac
- And More descriptions to come soon…
