Energy-efficient Sonoma Mountain home has a view from every room

From the deck of her home 1,500 feet up Sonoma Mountain, Judith Walsh can look down on the fog hovering over the Valley of the Moon on many a morning. But on a clear summer day, the perch offers a mind-blowing panorama that extends from the Mayacamas on the opposite side of Sonoma Valley to the top of the Vaca Range that marks the eastern wall of Napa Valley far to the east. To the south, Mount Diablo towers above the sandy hills of the East Bay.

Walsh doesn’t need to step outside or even stand at the east-facing glass that makes up one giant wall of her great room to take in this top-of-the-world vista. It’s visible from every room in her house. That includes the bathrooms, where frosted glass shower doors open directly onto the deck so one, in a moment of privacy, could stand under a stream of water and watch the raptors patrol the mountain.

Architect David Marlatt designed the home for Walsh and her husband John to capitalize on the natural beauty, incorporate energy efficiency and make it possible to fulfill the couple’s wish that this house be their last. It features elements of universal design so it will be comfortable and safe for them to navigate as they age.

Doorways and showers are wide enough for a wheelchair, if the need ever arises. The polished concrete floors are smooth and at one level for easy maneuvering. Grab bars in the bathroom double as towel bars. An attached studio that now serves as a guest room can be converted into a caregiver’s dwelling.

And while there is a second-floor mezzanine with his and hers offices, each with views onto the town of Sonoma below, there are 5-foot-square stacking closets, one on each floor, already prepped for an elevator conversion should they need one.

The 3,600-square-foot house doesn’t sacrifice form for function. Marlatt took care to show you can have both. The home, with its distinctive folded roof that captures solar energy and rainwater, caught the eye of organizers of the Bay Area Modern Home Tour. The annual event put on by the Modern Architecture + Design Society is usually confined to Silicon Valley. But because of the pandemic, the in-person tour this year went virtual, enabling the inclusion of homes in the East Bay and the North Bay, too.

The livestreamed tour included commentary from Marlatt and architects of the six other featured homes. It’s archived online, so people can stop by for a virtual visit at their leisure (see factbox). Some homes are also represented with 3D images.

Retirement haven

For much of her working life, Judith, born and raised in Napa, was a tax attorney for the Chevron Corp. John, a New Jersey native, was in high tech, starting with IBM and later AT&T and then a number of smaller companies.

Married in 2005, they spent their busy early married years living in separate homes. When considering a home they could share in retirement, they turned their sights to Sonoma, with its proximity to a golf course for John. The jaw-dropping views drew them to the parcel set on a slope in Diamond A, a mountain enclave overlooking the town of Sonoma.

“I didn’t want to live on the east side,” Judith said of the older side of Sonoma, with its many vintage homes and edging into the vineyards of Lovall Valley, Buena Vista and Gundlach-Bundschu. “But we both wanted a view over things as opposed to looking up.”

They enlisted the Sausalito-based Marlatt to design a home that would provide space for entertaining family and for pursuing their individual interests.

“We had a grand plan,” Judith said. That was 2007, right before the economy collapsed, plunging the world into a deep recession. It took two years to sell John’s house. In the meantime, Marlatt pulled permits so they were in the pipeline and ready to break ground in early 2010. They put Judith’s San Francisco condo on the market and moved into her childhood home in Napa for a year before the Sonoma home was completed in February 2011.

The house is laid out in a long line, really never more than one room deep. It all is oriented to the east, with doors out to a deck. In the middle is a great room with high ceilings and remote-controlled high clerestory windows and glass doors that open on both sides of the space for cross ventilation.

The focal point of the great room is the view. But a wall of honeyed birch veneer that incorporates a fireplace and shelves to show off Judith’s prized collection of art glass also catches the eye.

To one side of the great room are two master suites with a bath in between. In the other wing, closest to the entrance, are twin playrooms, spaces for where John and Judith could pursue their own interests. John’s includes tech equipment. Judith has a Celtic harp and sewing machines as well as space for Pilates exercises. At the far end is a studio with a tiny galley kitchen for guests or an eventual caregiver.

Marlatt also designed open office spaces in the mezzanine that looks out over the open living area. Judith devotes herself to several local causes, including the homeless shelter in Sonoma.

Green design

Marlatt designed the home for high energy efficiency and with sensitivity to the environment.

Half the house was built into the hill to minimize excavation and the amount of soil hauled off to the landfill.

The recession brought one bright spot. They got a fantastic low-bid offer from a company that specializes in Structural Insulated Panels, sheets of oriented strand board with Polystyrene foam core that are manufactured and assembled quickly on site. They are highly insulated for energy efficiency. The company owner, Marlatt said, offered the very low bid to keep his crew employed, making it a more affordable alternative to regular stick-built construction.

With the insulated panel construction, most of the work is on the front-end design. The panels have to arrive ready to be installed and fit perfectly because they can’t be altered. The siding is stucco, making the house better able to withstand the fires that threaten Sonoma County every dry season.

The floors are stained concrete with energy-efficient radiant heating. They’re easy to maintain, another goal for this retirement home.

“Concrete in the winter is absorbing heat in the morning and releasing it in the evening,” Marlatt said. “By having the thermal mass in the building, it moderates the temperature so it doesn’t swing so quickly.”

The folded metal roof evokes the rolling hills of Sonoma County while also providing south-facing surfaces for solar energy collection and for harvesting rainwater, which is held in four 5,000-gallon storage tanks hidden downslope. Judith uses every drop for her gardens of vegetables and roses.

Marlatt said the house, which employs passive and active strategies to limit the need for air conditioning to only about eight days a year, received an exceptionally high rating in the Green Point Certified House program.

With its views from every room, not-too-overwhelming size and well-thought-out spaces, the house is just right for this quiet chapter of life, Judith said.

“I’m sure (I) will get to a point where I can’t drive and will end up in assisted living. But until then, the Diamond A community is a wonderful, welcoming and friendly place. And I really love it here. I love the house. I love my garden. And I love the view.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 707-521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com. OnTwitter @megmcconahey.