The hint is in The Phoenix's name – this is a home rebuilt following significant damage at a fire in its California region in 2017. The retreat, a mountain home for a private client, sits on a plot at the top of a ridge in Healdsburg, with views stretching across the valley as far as Mount Saint Helena. Its owners worked with San Francisco studio Feldman Architecture to not only bring back their beloved escape but also take this opportunity to improve upon its design.
Tour The Phoenix: a retreat reborn
The home is defined by 'a series of elongated, stacked, rectilinear forms stretching from east to west,' the architects explain. Helping to carve these out, a gesture moving the swimming pool from its original position downslope of the main house to the heart of the layout, was critical in crafting a strong flow internally, as well as a meaningful relationship between indoors and outdoors.
The living spaces are open and orientated towards the striking green views. A bespoke lighting sculpture by studio DRIFT punctuates these communal entertaining spaces.
Meanwhile, 'an adjacent graveled back patio accommodates an outdoor kitchen with a woodfired pizza oven, as well access to raised vegetable beds lining the northern façade, encouraging a true farm to table lifestyle,' the architects write.
The primary bedroom suite is placed above the living spaces, floating in a cantilevered volume that overlooks the surrounding nature of the rolling Healdsburg hills.
Green roofs and a western deck allow residents to embrace the outdoors on the higher level of the home too. At the same time, these, alongside solar panels and more environmentally friendly systems and features, make sure the home engages with principles of sustainable architecture.
The same nature-sensitive approach went for the internal design too, its interiors crafted by Gaile Guevara Studio.
-
Reflections from Los Angeles: a local writer's personal account of the LA firesArchitecture writer and local resident Michael Webb reflects on the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires and offers his personal account of the events of the last two weeks in California
-
Sundance Film Festival 2025: The films we can't wait to watchSundance Film Festival, which runs 23 January - 2 February, has long been considered a hub of cinematic innovation. These are the ones to watch from this year’s premieres
-
Wellness takes to the skies and the high seas in this concept superyacht and private jet retrofitHigh-end mobility design pivots to minimalist calm and life-affirming ambience as wellness trends take hold. The Sea Rover yacht and Afterglow private jet point the way
-
Reflections from Los Angeles: a local writer's personal account of the LA fires
Architecture writer and local resident Michael Webb reflects on the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires and offers his personal account of the events of the last two weeks in California
-
LA Mayor Karen Bass outlines her plan for rebuilding the cityFollowing the devastating LA wildfires, which have destroyed more than 12,000 structures, the city’s mayor has outlined her plan for reconstruction
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House, a Usonian modernist Michigan gem, could be yoursFrank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House in Michigan is on the market – a chance to peek inside the heritage modernist home in the countryside
-
Cabin House is a simple modernist retreat in the woods of North CarolinaDesigned for downsizing clients, Cabin House is a modest two-bedroom home that makes the most of its sylvan surroundings
-
A Texas ranch house blends Californian charm and Asian minimalism in a 'balance in hybridity'Pontious, a Texas ranch house designed by OWIU, is a home grounded in its owner's cultural identity, uniting Californian, Chinese and Japanese roots
-
The three lives of the Edith Farnsworth House: now, a modernist architecture icon open to allThe modernist Edith Farnsworth House has had three lives since its conception in 1951 by Mies van der Rohe; the latest is a sensitive renovation, and it's open to the public
-
Year in review: the top 12 houses of 2024, picked by architecture director Ellie StathakiThe top 12 houses of 2024 comprise our finest and most read residential posts of the year, compiled by Wallpaper* architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki
-
A vacant Tribeca penthouse is transformed into a bright, contemporary eyrieA Tribeca penthouse is elevated by Peterson Rich Office, who redesigned it by adding a sculptural staircase and openings to the large terrace
