OVERVIEW
5200 Lucas Valley Road,
a letter from the owners
Nicasio Valley's close community: When we purchased the land and house at 5200 Lucas Valley Rd in 2004 both had been neglected and uninhabited for many years. We undertook an enormous renovation project that transformed the 20 acre gated property into an ideal private estate in one of the most beautiful landscapes of Northern California. This included an expansion of the house, complete renovations of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, redesign of all the rooms, and the installation of organic olive trees and extensive lavender gardens around the pool, tennis court and seasonal creek. The aesthetic appeal of the area was what drew us to this location as well as its easy proximity to San Francisco and the Marin coastline. And as we began to participate in the school and in local events (such as Volunteer Fire Dept. fundraisers), we realized that our neighbors are some of the most creative and successful painters, scientists, writers, filmmakers and farmers in the country, while also proving to be among the most welcoming and supportive of individuals, the type of people that create a real community while holding the value of privacy in high regard.
A perfect place to entertain: There are three main buildings that face onto the town square baseball field: Druids Hall, the iconic St. Mary's Church, and Rancho Nicasio, a combination post office, general store, restaurant, bar and live music club for some of today's best rock, folk and country musicians. Our place has its own musical history: the former residence of Keith Knudson, the former property of Jerry Garcia who provided it as a hangout for jamming sessions by the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane (exactly where we built a ceremonial stone circle for its incredible natural acoustics), as well as a home for horses, sheep, chickens, and Lamas. The protected topography of our private valley made it easy to create a retreat perfect for entertaining both on a small and large scale. We have held events here in support of many causes and celebrations, hosting up to 250 people at a time with ample parking in the pastures and driveways. Warmed by a broad stone fireplace the large living room overlooks lawns and gardens terracing down to the pool and covered dining patio. Between the main house and the carriage house apartment (a former recording studio for the Doobie Bros.) a family reunion can wake up to swimming, tennis, bocce ball, hiking, and biking in California's mediterranean coastal climate (but without the fog).
The Little Red School House: All four of our children have attended Nicasio School, which built its new campus buildings next to the original red school house thanks to the initiative of the local community. But the values of the one-room school house still prevail, with a total of only 50 to 60 students in K through 8 coming from families in all walks of life, served by a high ratio of excellent staff and teachers. Graduating classes have matriculated into Branson School, Marin Academy, Saint Ignatius, Marin Academy of the Arts, and Drake and Redwood High Schools. In 2009 Nicasio School scored 907 on the California Standardized Test (compare Ross School at 912). Most importantly the School passes on the values of the community to its children: hard work, creativity, and looking after one another.
What comes with the territory: Within Marin's boundaries Nicasio's 100 square kilometers occupies an especially graceful land of hills, creeks and valleys with cows grazing between live oaks, rock outcroppings, Pinot Noir vineyards, and the sparkling Nicasio reservoir. Among the 250 homes in the area, 5200 Lucas Valley Road offers a singular combination of a spacious south facing home, private and protected in its own valley, on many acres of flat landscaped property with all the amenities of an estate. It's a good place to bring up children, to entertain friends, to become part of an exceptional community, and to be effortlessly reminded of how beautiful life can be.
INTRODUCTION
5200 Lucas Valley Road , Nicasio, CA.
The Lama Ranch
Everyone in Nicasio lives in someone else's house. 'The old Rogers ranch". "The Delcini's" … living in a historic town often results in there being a reference the first occupant. Our land was originally a part of the Bull Ranch where George Lucas created Skywalker Ranch. Our home is referred to either as the Doobie Brothers house, but even more frequently as the Lama Ranch. The previous owner raised lama's and had a flock of them. It must had made a great impression on those who drove by the pasture, because whenever folks ask where I live, I just say The Lama Ranch and the immediately know where I live. We have owned a number of animals ourselves horses, sheep, chickens and dogs, but it will always be the Lama Ranch.
We acquired our Nicasio home in 2004. It had been unoccupied for two years. The grounds and the house had been much neglected.
While my husband began designs for a complete renovation I focused on the gardens. I had created the popular Alphabet Soup program that integrated cooking, art and gardening. My goal was to make our home in Nicasio an expression of that lifestyle.
First we removed all the dead landscape, cleaned out the woods, built new pasture and garden fences and trucked in loads of Sonoma compost organic soil. We planted hundreds of low water plants that enjoy a Mediterranean climate - primarily lavender, olive and fruit trees and ornamental grasses.
The house was a tougher job. It was dark and gloomy. Spaces were awkward and there was a terrible circulation through the space. To make matters worse, animals had gotten into everything while the house was vacant – held up in an estate trust for such a long period of time.
Everything had to be ripped out – bringing the house down to the studs while keeping the exterior and the original supporting enormous redwood structural beams used throughout the house. Since the walls were open we took advantage of this to add more square footage to the house. Expanding the kitchen, adding the butler's pantry, a dining room, a sunroom and a family room. We also added French doors inside and out to bring light into the house and open up the circulation for indoor and outdoor living.
It was a complete renovation:
We put in all new wiring throughout the house, including CAT 5 lines for state of the art communication.
We also installed plumbing for all the new bathrooms and a new kitchen and butler's pantry.
New floors were were installed -– wood and Mexican tile – keeping with the Spanish Mediterrean style of the home. Wall to wall carpeted installed in other rooms.
We added three heating systems to the main house. Regional radiant heat under the tile floors, forced hot air propane in the east side of house and electric central heating on the west side of the entry.
A new large propane hot water heater serves the east side of the house and a new electric hot water heater serves the west side of the house.
Green materials were used in the bathrooms and kitchen. The bathroom counters are made of recycled crushed glass bottles mixed with concrete. The kitchen and pantry counters and kitchen sink were custom made on Cape Cod, Massachusetts; they are a mixture of concrete and slate.
On the exterior - parts of the stucco were repaired, parts of the roof were refitted with new clay tiles, and steps were added for easy indoor and outdoor access. The chimneys were inspected for their structural integrity and once deemed safe were cleaned.
The pool house also had a new propane pool heater and a new large hot water heater for big parties.
The cottage also has new heating – propane forced hot air – and a new hot water heater. We added a new shower in the cottage bathroom and new flooring. A new deck and steps were built. We also replaced the deck off the master bedroom.
The bridge connecting the lower and upper driveway was rebuilt with wood, aged to look old. It is reinforced with steel to support a fire truck. A new foot bridge was built crossing the creek and leading to the pasture.
Wells were reconnected. Pumps replaced, a new back up water holding tank was added – we now have three tanks. New pipes were installed from a new sterilization system - filter and UV light. - The house. Additional pipes were laid when reconnecting the various wells and holding tanks.
What we didn't do. Replace the glass ceiling in the foyer, the garage doors and a broken seals on the arched window in the living. I don't have any good reason for this other then I just ran out of steam and wanted to start living and stop renovating. These three I consider minor items.
ENTERTAINING
A Wonderful Place For Entertaining
We have hosted many wonderful events at our home. It sets up beautifully for entertaining both indoors and outdoors. For larger parties we use one of the pastures for parking. The great thing about our home, besides its complete privacy –is that is so versatile - from a casual ranch to an elegant backdrop for a high end affair.
In addition to adding a amphitheatre, we also added lawns, garden with new irrigation system, and low voltage lighting around all the outdoor entertaining areas.
Our home is a magnet for very creative and accomplished people who do interesting things. Often our guests will cross pollinate their ideas – painters, academy award winners, world class scientists and inventors, bestselling authors, visionaries, actors, musicians – and enrich each other's experience. I believe this home has always worked its magic this way. It is a magical place.
ORGANIC GARDENS
Fields of Lavender -- Olive Trees for Harvest
The first thing we did when we bought the house was to truck in many, many loads of Sonoma Compost Organic Soil. We removed a hillside of juniper in front of the house and replaced it with Grosso and Provence Lavender for the greatest fragrance and English Lavender with a less intense fragrance and contrasting texture and color.
We also planted Tuscan olive trees – primarily Frantoio (for a nutty flavor) and Coratina (for a peppery flavor). We have a few Arbequina from the Catalonia region for edible black table olives. The olive trees are planted along the upper driveway and along the path to the tennis court, about 35 trees in all. We harvest our olives every fall and have them pressed at the McEvoy Ranch. Our trees are still young and yield about a ¾ gallon of olive oil annually. We call it liquid gold. A Nicasio friend and neighbor who has mature 40 olive trees gets 14 gallons of oil. Jim Simon said he didn't get a large yield until his trees were eight+ years old "then they just kicked in" – our trees are six years old.
In the northwest pasture we also have a double fenced organic vegetable garden. It qualifies to be certified organic, having been farmed for five plus years with organic soils and plants. Our plan is to also put in another vegetable garden. The site we have selected is at the end of the path that connects the pool, cuts through the hill of Mexican grass and ends at the tennis court lawn. This is a perfect site for a garden – receiving all day sun. Our plan was to continue with our design theme of using decomposed granite paths, stone retaining walls, raised beds planted en mass, organic soil and plants. The design was inspired by the McEvoy family edible garden.
THE GREATFUL DEAD
The Circular Garden
A few years ago one of the old timers from Weeks Well and Drilling came to our home to familiarize me with the history of our wells. He told me he had put in the first well for Jerry Garcia back in the late 60s when there was nothing more than a shack on the property and a wooden platform for performing. It was the first I had ever heard of Jerry or the Dead having occupied our land. He told me that at center line in the tennis court I would find an excellent well. There I found a very faint outline etched within the surface of the court – something I had never noticed before. We chipped away and sure enough there was the well. He gave me the original invoice.
Next, he walked me over to where the platform was where the band would play – the Grateful Dead jamming with the Jefferson Airplane and other groups. The acoustics were amazing. The hills made a natural amphitheatre. My husband designed a 40 foot decomposed granite circle outlined in stone to commemorate the spot. I specified the surface be mixed with white concrete to make it suitable for a dance floor. It has been put to the test many times with great success. Sometimes it's a stage, other times a unconventional bocci court, and other times a ceremonial circle.
CARRIAGE HOUSE
The Doobie Brothers Recording Studio
Keith Knudson, the drummer for the Doobie Brothers Band built the main house and carriage house in the late 1970s. The second story of the Carriage House was used as the bands recording studio. We have used it as a guest cottage, teenage hangout, painting studio and as a home exercise room. We have always considered using it as a caretakers residence, but never wanted to give up the space – we have many guests.
It has one bedroom, a living room, a full bath and a small, but complete kitchen. We partially remodeled the bathroom by adding a new Corian shower and a new toilet. We rebuilt the stairs and porch – which were literally falling down and we installed a new forced air propane heating system and a new hot water heater. I believe the only prior source of heat in the past was the wood burning stove. We also rebuilt the bridge (pictured above) that leads to the main residence. We aged it so it looks like it has been here forever – it is reinforced to carry the weight of a fire truck or cement truck.
The downstairs is a three car garage. We portioned off one bay of the garage for storage. We never replaced the rotting garage doors since we couldn't decide if we wanted a garage or a two story guest house.
The new house purification system is located under the porch deck. We installed a UV light system and a double filter.
The carriage has a lovely view of the grounds and the huge majestic live oak tree outside the living room window. It is a very peaceful place to stay, particularly when you hear the seasonal creek run by.
THE LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE 1987
"The Nicasio School is similar to a private school."
One of the great things about living in Nicasio is the school. Established in 1867 the Nicasio School is one of the last single school districts in the state. It consistently ranks as one of the top schools in California. This year they scored 907 on the California Standardized Test. To give you a frame of reference the Ross School scored 912.
The very active parent group likes to say it is like a private school given the quality of the education. The parent body supports the extra curriculum programs – such as acting with the Marin Shakespeare Company, ballroom dancing, fine art and bridge.
Approximately 50 students attend the K to 8 school every year. Despite its small size, the student population is diverse – ranging from fourth generation Nicasio farmers to the children of celebrities.
Most of the students speak English as their first language with approximately 12% of the students having Spanish as their first language. All students are taught Spanish for their entire eight years at the school from kindergarten to the eighth grade. Latin is introduced in the sixth grade, giving the students three years of Latin – and a very strong foundation for high school.
The graduating students of the Nicasio School often have their pick of where they would like to attend high school – either public or private in Marin or SF. Last year the graduating class students attended Branson School, Marin Academy, Saint Ignatius, The Marin School of the Arts, Sir Francis Drake and Redwood High School. Last year, every student that applied to Branson and Marin Academy was accepted – a great accomplishment by any standard.
