April 29, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Historic and modern

by Carol Blitzer

Wendell Roscoe has an eye for the unusual. When he needed a new dining room table for the home he designed and built in 1993, he thought nothing of carting down two huge olive oil jars from San Francisco. He then ran them through a car wash to get rid of the lingering odor, lacquered the insides to seal them, and added a wrought-iron base. Today, the jars gracefully support a slab of glass.

Perhaps that's not so odd for the airline pilot-turned-design/builder, who acquired the last 42 acres in Pink Horse Ranch off Moody Road in Los Altos Hills in 1955 and gradually filled in the neighborhood with homes he designed.

Visitors will get a chance to see two of them May 7 on this year's Home & Garden Tour, a benefit for the Los Altos History Museum, along with another contemporary home and two historic structures.

Roscoe built his home on spec -- he had lived just down the street for 40 years with his wife, Nancy -- but fell in love with the design. The large home sits on more than an acre and is built into a steep hill. The front door is actually on the second story, where the main living quarters are.

Even with 5,600 square feet, there are no wasted hallway spaces. Just in front of the small foyer is a circular living room, under a glass rotunda -- all designed to appreciate a 200-year-old oak tree.

"I liked the idea of looking up at the oak tree and seeing the reflection of furniture on the ceiling," Roscoe said. When a branch snapped off last year, only one pane of glass broke, and the tree is now supported by a 32-foot-deep metal post.

Everything in the Roscoes' home reflects their appreciation for nature, from the quiet, natural hues on the walls to the dry-laid flagstone fireplace in the great room. Nancy Roscoe's biggest disappointment is her inability to enjoy any flowers outside before the deer demolish them.

The main rooms simply flow, from the round living room to the adjacent dining room, to the kitchen/great room with its dominant fireplace. Down a short hall is a library/study, paneled in bleached walnut, with books, television and hidden bar, as well as the master suite, with double sinks and a deep tub.

Downstairs, Roscoe is happy to show his wine cellar, with its limestone floor and arches made from rubble found at a quarry in Provence, France. He sent home half a container -- that's 20,000 pounds -- of limestone, including pillars, a table and benches, and a slab core-drilled to hold 120 bottles of wine. The temperature in the cellar stays 56 to 58 degrees naturally.

Next come two more bedrooms and a bathroom, a laundry room, and a large office distinguished by a drafting table and a second large work surfaces -- and an organ. When stymied on a design, Roscoe simply turns to the organ and plays for inspiration. On the walls are photos reminiscent of his earlier life as a Pan Am pilot and instructor for the Royal Air Force.

Roscoe began his career as a design/builder/land developer when flying for Pan Am. Bored with his two to three weeks off at a time, he designed and built a home for himself on a golf course on Nandell Lane (named for Nancy and Wendell). When someone turned him in for building without a license, he took the test and passed -- without any formal training. He's been building ever since.

"I've learned by doing. It's a God-given talent," the 87-year-old said. His office is filled with drawings of some of the 400 houses he's designed and built in his lifetime, including one he sited down the hill from Hwy. 280 so it couldn't be seen from the road. He topped the house with a sod roof at the back (just in case someone flicked a lit cigarette from a passing car) and a tile roof in front. Favorite touches are rotundas and courtyards, but each house is unique.

Included in the tour is the garden, with its gazebo constructed of limestone pillars, with Bouquet Canyon flagstone flooring, and two waterfalls, all set against a lush hillside. Roscoe planted oak trees more than 35 years ago on the property and today enjoys his foresight.

In addition to two Pink Horse Ranch houses, the tour includes one contemporary home that contrasts traditional architecture with pop art, the historic Adobe Creek Lodge and the former home of the Duveneck family in Hidden Villa.

On Friday, May 6, from 6 to 8 p.m., a "Premier Evening" will kick off the tour. The highlight will be a tour of the historic 1902 Greek Revival residence of Steve Finn. Tickets are $125 per person (and includes the Saturday tour).

Unlike other local home tours, the focus of this one is less on home decorating and more on history. Pink Horse Ranch was once a day-trip picnic destination spot, according to Roscoe, and earlier was Toyon Farm, a working dairy. When excavating his home, he found tons of broken milk bottles.

Adobe Creek Lodge was a destination resort in the 1940s, and the former casino building is used today as a guesthouse. The former Duveneck house has been restored and includes some original artifacts forged by Frank Duveneck himself.

In addition to the premier evening and house tour, there will be a Museum Store garden boutique and refreshments available at two of the homes on the tour.

Assistant editor Carol Blitzer can be reached at cblitzer@paweekly.com.

What: Los Altos History Museum 4th annual Spring Home & Garden Tour.
When: Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Five homes in Los Altos Hills; shuttle buses leave from Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, with free parking in Parking Lot 3.
Tickets: $35 non-members, $30 members; tickets sell out quickly.
Info: Call 650/948-9427, ext. 15 or visit www.losaltoshistory.org.

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