Touring the ICONIC DOME House!
(dramatic music) - Welcome to the iconic Domestead, a three-story Los Angeles landmark with a geodesic top floor. With the use of massive concrete caissons and gunite retaining walls, they managed to build this one-of-a-kind home into a hillside without conventional details and finishes. It's nothing short of unique. This is so cool. Extraordinary. It's out of this world.
And inspiring. We can't wait to show you around. (bright music) Cody, are we doing this? - [Cody] I am so excited for this tour. - Me too.
And welcome to the Domestead, everyone. This iconic property was built in 1982 designed by William King, and it is phenomenal. Consists of three levels built into the hillside, and I mean, look at the structure for a second. Right in front of us, we have this curved garage door opening up to the garage of this home and wait till you see how this door operates, which we'll show later in the tour. Above that, you can see the retaining wall serving as a roof structure for the garage, and it's also a built-in planter, and I just love how it curves beautifully towards the hillside as well. Now if you look above, you can see the center section of the structure, which is the main floor, has this barn aesthetic.
And above that is the geodesic top floor with a wraparound balcony where you get phenomenal views. Again, I'm so excited for this tour. In fact, let me take everybody towards the entry. Now we have the staircase taking you to the lower level as well as the main floor, which is the center section. And over on this side, we have so many skylights filling the lower level of this home with natural light.
In fact, let's go in there. (excited music) The entry of this property is so cool. We have a Dutch door here, and they have these Dutch doors throughout the property and let's walk straight to the living room.
We have exposed concrete caissons, concrete ceiling, amazing volume, spiral staircase, and look at that gunite wall that's behind us. How cool is this? - [Cody] Honestly, this is probably one of the coolest spaces I've ever seen, and we have just walked in. - One of the coolest without a doubt, and I'm gonna cover all the details. But first, let's get the specs out of the way. So we have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,787 square feet of interior space, one of the smallest homes we've ever toured. 0.25 acre lot, on the market for $2.3 million.
And of course, I wanna give big thanks to the listing agent Carl Gambino for making this tour possible. More information about this iconic home will be in the description of this video. And what can I say? I'm beyond excited. Now let's check out the living room.
We have this really cool couch, coffee table in the center. We have our deep tea candle lit right now. Room is so cozy. We have this beautiful rug, terrazo floors, this lounging chair, natural light coming in through the skylights on the back that I'll cover in a second. And Cody, let's actually get a close up. So they have these exposed concrete caissons throughout the property.
And when we were talking about this property with our team, I realized they don't know why these caissons have these lines. So they pour this concrete columns into cardboard forms and the forms are peeled off and they have this basically a layer spiraling up. So when you're peeling it off, you can actually see all the lines. Does that make sense? - [Cody] It's almost like board form concrete. - It is in some capacity, but because these cardboard forms are so smooth, that's why you get this smooth finish.
And they also have these wall sconces throughout. Attached to the caissons to highlight the texture. - [Cody] It's a cool like industrial/modern feel all in one. - Exactly. And I mean on top of that, this house is built on a hillside, so you need massive concrete caissons to lock it in place. And I know this seems like a small cozy seating area, but this is so cool.
This is so different. - [Cody] And we're literally inside a hillside right now, - Correct. Technically, we're underground.
- [Cody] That's crazy. And even like with all these features that you were mentioning too, this house has a lot of history. - A lot. - [Cody] I mean, I've been doing some research before and everything, and behind you actually is a newspaper clipping from the '80s. This woman in the image was the original homeowner that William King designed the house for. - Is she the pediatrician? - [Cody] She was a pediatrician, that's correct. And so that image is her holding a like three-day-old baby that she nursed back to health that was abandoned.
And so it made the newspaper. - Wow. - [Cody] And she was the one that bought the house and commissioned it from the architect. But unfortunately, a couple months after the house was finished, she passed away from cancer. - Yeah, which is an unfortunate story.
That part I knew, but I didn't know this newspaper article. This is super cool. And I mean, wait till you see the other details of this house. I have so much information packed.
In fact, Cody, let's take everybody to the other side. Before we check out this wing, let me show you the bathroom that we have on this level. First, look at this gunite retaining wall. A lot of times, we see these straight concrete walls, but in this house they wanna to bring in the texture of the earth. And even though these are concrete retaining walls, they have this gunite finish so it literally feels like we're in a cave, which is super cool. Then on the other side, they have a deconstructed bathroom.
These are the two by fours framing this section. Your exposed plumbing vent. And Cody, let's go right in. How cute is this water closet? - [Cody] This is so cool. - I can't get over it. This is amazing.
And Cody, I'm gonna give you some space because we gotta show this vanity to everyone. So this is a cast iron recycled vanity. Let's get a close up. It has a hot and a cold separate from each other. - [Cody] Wow.
- And when you really wanna drain it, you'll lift this up. - [Cody] What? - Hey look, I'm gonna turn them off. - [Cody] What? That's so cool.
- This is amazing. Your makeup mirror, light fixtures, and oh, look at this clawfoot tub. I've never seen anything like this in a home. It has this wood rim. It's also cast iron with its own tub filler attached to it. I have a party trick for you, Cody, you're not ready for this.
- [Cody] Show me. - Okay. If you want some privacy, you close this, and you close this and this is your water closet.
I love it. I love it. You even have a nice little open shelving here.
And there's actually a towel rack on this side. So they made good use of every bit of space in this house. In fact, Cody, why don't you go to the other side, again, I love these two by fours. This tub looks so cool.
Another concrete caisson. Incredible. I'm out of words already, and we're not even done with like 10% of the house. - [Cody] I love that bathroom so much.
- All right, let's continue. Now we have the garage here, which we'll check out in a second. This is the laundry room. Of course, you have another retaining wall here, washer, dryer, your water heater. Wanted to show that as well. And now, Cody and I are gonna take this spiral staircase so we can check out the bedroom on this level, which might be one of the coolest bedrooms we have ever toured on this channel.
Now before we move on with the rest of the home, I wanna quickly take a second to appreciate the asset we're touring today. You can tell that this has been home to incredible artists in the past and throughout the years, has served as a source of inspiration and creativity. We believe homes like this are a great investment asset as they appreciate in value over time, similar to the fine art world. In fact, fine art has paid over $55 million to investors over at Masterworks, which I'm happy to say is the sponsor of today's video. For most people, investing in fine art worth of millions of dollars has been unattainable.
That was until they joined Masterworks, which is an art investing platform that splits blue chip paintings into shares. Essentially, you can diversify into multiple pieces of art from artists like Picasso, Basquiat, and Banksy. And once a painting sells, you can receive any potential proceeds with Masterworks completing 22 exits so far.
Over 900,000 members have joined the platform with painting selling out in a matter of minutes. But by using our unique QR code or by clicking the link in the description of this video, you can skip the wait list and have special access to start your investment journey today. Once again, I wanna give big thanks to Masterworks for sponsoring this video.
And now let's get back to our tour. The ceiling height, natural light coming in through these skylights above us. This gunite retaining wall that is sloped.
Everything about this room is so unique, different, primal, and I love it. I feel like this house has this unapologetic personality and it owns it so well. Everything is exposed. You see the structural beams and columns and it looks one of a kind.
- [Cody] It's so cool. It's like a modern day, almost like Flintstones cave vibe. But the furniture is like, it's so minimalist - And chic. - [Cody] It is. - And I feel like this is turning into a reaction video more than like a house tour. But how do you not react to space like this and not be in awe.
This gunite retaining wall with all these textures. Then you have a small seating area here with an Eames chair and all these details coming together with the furnishings, textures, ceiling height, it's a one-of-a-kind bedroom and a really, really unique house. In fact, I wanna explain to everyone, how do you build a home like this into a hillside. So we're gonna see these exposed concrete caissons throughout the property. Essentially, they use these concrete columns to lock the property to the land. They can go anywhere from 30 to 100 feet into the soil.
And from there, you built these retaining walls, essentially walls that hold the exterior dirt. That way you can create interior volumes and waterproof it. But instead of going with standard concrete vertical walls, they decided to use a gunite approach here. That way, they can bring the textures and basically embrace the surface of the land and bring little bit more character into the interior spaces.
And it looks so cool. - [Cody] So is something like this with the gunite and the slope more cost effective than a straight vertical retaining wall? - It's a preference. I would assume gunite is a little bit more expensive, but just the overall construction of a hillside home is really expensive.
I mean, these are not small columns. You need to bring cranes. You need to basically create and drill these massive holes into the hillside, drop the forms, drop the rebar, pour concrete on top, and that's just your skeleton. You still gotta build a house. So a lot of money and a lot of resources go into building a home like this.
But the end result is so unique and different. Basically you're carving out a piece of the earth and you're placing it or you're replacing it with a home. - [Cody] That's crazy. And the fact that it was built in the '80s and it still looks this good, is like a true testament to the construction. - Without a doubt, it looks phenomenal. It is super dry, which means it's really waterproof.
And look at those skylights bringing natural light. How smartly they're positioned because this room could have been really dark, but those skylights bring great light. But we gotta leave this room.
We got still so much to see. In fact, Cody, I need you to spin to the other side, you can see that they have some steps here because there's actually a secret room here. Believe it or not, this used to be a small guest room. And here's the fun part.
I'm going in there and you're coming in with me. All right. - Okay. - [Cody] Oh, this is gonna be hard. - Cody, you're coming in. - [Cody] All right, let's see. - Okay, you got this.
- You got this. - [Cody] There we go. - There we go. Even have a skylight here, by the way, small seating area. If I was a kid, I would love this room. - [Cody] I mean, I'm not a kid and I love this room.
- You're like, I still love it. But these kind of hillside homes, they packed these really unique, interesting areas because of the slope of the land. And you can create really unique spaces like this. Now that we're back in the bedroom, I wanna take a quick second and to announce something really exciting that myself and our team have been working on for so long. We're about to launch a really exciting project and that's why there's gonna be a signup link in the description of this video as well as the pinned comment above.
And I encourage you to sign up if you wanna be the first person to hear about this project that we'll be launching very, very soon. I am beyond excited. I wish, I wish. I wish I could talk more about it. But for now, the signup link is all we have.
Make sure to check it out. And now I'm gonna take the steps here, go down to the lower level, open up the door right here so we can check out the garage. Just like the lower level, this space is also one of a kind.
Shares the same high concrete roof, exposed concrete caissons. And look at the volume here. This is so cool. And we have a Corvette here that we'll talk about in a second. Small office area, so it's this creative space. And then you have this crazy garage door design.
It's basically all one metal structure and you can see these zigzagging supporting beams. And on top of that, the main frames that are carrying the garage door and the springs are like one of a kind. I've never seen a system like this. In fact, Cody, come over here. It actually is controlled through this center section here with the gears.
And actually, why don't you show the garage door to everyone. I'm gonna go open up the door right now. I mean, this is a Batman garage. - [Cody] That's cool. - You serious? Like, is this real? - [Cody] That's not how you would think or expect it to open.
- Correct. But it makes sense. It protects its shape. Works like a hanger door, so it just lifts up.
That way you can pull out your car very easily. And I don't think I've seen a garage door contraption like this in a residential home. So again, one of a kind. - [Cody] There's a lot of firsts in this house. - Without a doubt. Now let's talk about this 1972 Corvette Stingray T-Top.
(upbeat music) It matches the house so well. It has this flat black look. And I wish I can say that this car comes with the sale of this property.
It doesn't. But for $34,495, you can actually own this car. It's for sale.
So while you're buying this home, just add it to the cart. It matches this garage and this property so well. - [Cody] I think you have to at this point. Like if you're gonna get the house, get the car, - Just add it to the cart.
You know, why not? It's so cool. It's convertible. I love this flat black color. And funny enough, about few weeks ago, I got a chance to drive one of these. We rented one for one of our episodes. That one was 1969, I believe.
It was red, so it had more of that Americana look. But if I were to choose one, I like the flat black more. It just gives it a little bit more stealth Batman feel. - [Cody] Definitely. I would choose the black as well. - And fun car, amazing home, and we still have so much more to see.
(excited music) All right, let's go check out this level where we have the kitchen, full bathroom, and whole lot more quirky details. I love the wood tones here. Lot of warmth. Again, terrazo floors, spiral staircase goes above us where we have the geodesic top floor and you have all these picture windows bringing natural light and we're looking at some amazing views as well, and the wood tones here with the exposed beams. All this wood clad on the exterior.
This is so fun. - [Cody] It feels like we're in like a really, really well done tree house right now. - Really well-built tree house.
- [Cody] Really well-built. - With concrete caissons. - [Cody] Yeah. - It also has a little bit of a barn aesthetic. And I just love these wood tones.
We have a beautiful bar set up here. Look how intricate this woodwork is with this polished finish built-in seating area, some bar stools and Cody, we need to get a closeup. So this is a redwood kitchen. Let me see if I can pull this detail. There's a little cutting board, okay. - Love that.
- That's number one. Number two, it's built like a yacht. Look how they work. The wood, the countertop into the sink here with this lip design. Super cool. Then you have your gas range here with stainless steel countertops on each side.
Small fridge is nicely tucked in here with this quartz finish. And now I have a party trick that I wanna show it to everyone. This bar setup is attached to the countertop, but if you come over here and pull it gently. - [Cody] Oh.
- It separates. - [Cody] little island. - Come on. This is so cool. I'm gonna use the word "cool" a lot throughout this tour.
How do you not? This is like one-of-a-kind home. - [Cody] And one thing about it too, you didn't notice the book that's on this island? - Oh my God, yes. You'll kill me.
- This book is actually from the artist that lived here for about almost 20 years I think. And this book is over 150 feet long once you unfold all of these pages. - And it has photos of his like parties, events that he threw out here and like the garden parties, people planting trees, list goes on and on and on. He was a very, very creative individual. In fact, CNN did a video about this house and about him, I wanna say 11 years ago.
- Yeah. - It's on YouTube. And we take the time to understand and appreciate the properties that we tour and sometimes, the research that we put into these homes can take us to like really unique places and researching this artist, this book, and the story of this home, it is really fascinating. That's why we are here.
I mean, you guys know this. This home is listed at $2.3 million. It has to be up there as one of the, you know, cheapest homes we've ever toured.
In fact, the price point is really comparable to the home that we toured in Mexico for $2.7 million. And both of these homes were so cool and so unique that we just wanted to tour it and share it with all of you. And that's why I'm excited to be here as well. - [Cody] It's a piece of history. - Without a doubt. I mean these again, concrete columns with exposed hardware.
And I'm gonna close this door for a second because we have a Dutch door here. Love these. Opening up to your backyard so you have an easy exterior access. And now, let's open up this cool door so we can check out the full bathroom. I promise you one thing, you've never seen a bathroom like this in your life, and I'm gonna cover every single detail.
Look at the vanity here. They use the same redwood, sealed it beautifully with glass fronts on each side. So they created a little waterproof bowl as the vanity. And check this out, this is your faucet.
There's no hot and cold, right? It's a single faucet. And if you go down, this is where you adjust your hot and cold line to get the temperature that you want, which is crazy. The entire thing is deconstructed. So you can see your drain line, hot and cold lines. There's even a little duct work on the back.
And the same sink continues as a countertop here for some open shelving, exposed beams above us. The whole room is painted in green. One of a kind. - [Cody] Honestly, such a cool bathroom.
- Such a cool bathroom. And it's not even over yet because we open this door to the outdoor shower. When you have a property like this where it's so private, zen, when you have an amazing lush backyard like this, why you wouldn't wanna shower outside? They even have a little curtain here, Cody, I don't know if you caught this detail. - [Cody] Yeah.
- Your rainhead, again, simple plumbing. That's your hot line, that's your cold line. You mix it up to the temperature that you like.
And that's pretty much it. That's the show. - It's so cool. - This is it.
Your outdoor shower. Without a doubt, one-of-a-kind home, but wait till you see what we have above us. (upbeat music) Welcome to the top floor of this property where we have this unique bedroom. In fact, if you come right to the center, the room echoes like crazy. We have all these triangular shapes, bed seating area.
This has to be the coolest bedroom I've ever seen in my life. We have blue plywood floors throughout, this cozy seating area here. And the way they built this geodesic top floor is out of this world.
- [Cody] The geodesic shape is super fascinating, honestly. Like you said in the middle, you get that really crazy echo because of the sound waves going around it, and I can hear it in my headphones too. But this shape is actually the least amount of surface area needed to cover the largest volume of space.
And it's cool to think about like if you wanted a room like this, but you made it a big old cube, it would take a lot more material. - Exactly. - [Cody] To make it this tall.
- Basically, you would need way more surface area to create this much volume. So it's really efficient. Great for air circulation as well, that's why they have a vent on top to let the hot air go through the roof. And I mean, look around again, seating area. You have the cozy bed here, triangular windows.
And Cody, let's actually get a close up because I wanna explain to everyone how they built these walls. These walls are essentially panels. So you see the center section right there? - [Cody] Mm-hmm. - That circular piece is a metal disk. So they cut each one of the studs in the center and they place that metal disk right in the center and they bolt it through.
So that locks all of those beams in place. So if you start paneling it and piecing it together on these joints, you'll end up with a geodesic shape. That disk allows the wood to have the contour to get the wall shape. - [Cody] That makes sense. That's really cool. - So it's super strong, especially if it's built well.
But at the same time, you end up with this really cool structure and on top of all that, all these triangular plywood pieces are all painted and they're also all dated. - [Cody] Yeah. So the artist Fritz actually spent an entire summer painting what the sky looked like on each individual day. - Yes. - [Cody] So you have some like right behind you, August 25th, July 3rd, and it's really cool.
It's like you're buying a piece of history and you're buying a time capsule of what the sky looked like on that particular day. - That's why like this home is so different. Its story, the artist that lived here and how each one of the owners contributed to the home and left a piece of their experience and their past into this home. So whoever buys this home takes it to its next chapter, I hope they will add something to it as well. And it's just this really cool structure. This section, instead of placing plywood walls, they just put these fixed windows so you can enjoy the views.
Again, the concept the same. In fact, you can see the metal disk here a little bit better. And it just cuts right in the center of these beams. - That's that's cool. - That's how they built it. And views are fantastic. In fact, Cody, let's go outside.
- [Cody] Let's do it. - This wraparound deck really allows you to enjoy the outdoors and take advantage of these amazing views. East Los Angeles below us, this house is actually located in Glassell Park. So you'll have this elevated setting. You can actually see the highway, you can feel the energy of the city.
But because we are so high up, it's actually really nice and peaceful here. And you get phenomenal views of the city and the San Gabriel Mountains on the back. In fact, this section here has snow caps on top.
It's amazing, it's lush, it's green. And this deck continues to the other side where you can look down to your backyard, outdoor dining area, seating area. And it's a good sized deck. You can also get close to your geodesic structure and see the shingle roofing that they have on top. I mean, this is so cool. - [Cody] It's really cool. When we were doing research
for this shoot, I found some photos from the artists that lived here and the events they would hold, there would be 50, 60 people just on this balcony, while there's a performance going down like on the lower level in the backyard, it's just, it's so cool. - I love that he was really using this house and it became part of his identity. And I feel like these kinda homes end up becoming part of who you are.
It's not something that you just own and you stay in, these kinda homes, participate in your day-to-day life. If you're an artist, this is where you find inspiration. This is where you find comfort. And that's why again, we were drawn to this house and we wanted to share it with all of you.
And in fact, let's go downstairs so we can check out that backyard. (upbeat music) This property is situated on quarter of an acre, and because it's built on a hillside, it has a lot of different outdoor seating, dining, and lounging areas. And we're gonna cover them all. But first, I wanna take these steps so we can come to the side of the property and check out this really cool angle. Again, that is the main floor.
Look at those columns and how they're supporting the wraparound terrace that we toured earlier. Picture windows, standing seam roof here with the skylights. And these are the skylights that bring natural light to the bathroom on the lower level. Now the first outdoor space that we're gonna check out is actually right here. Cody, follow me this way. We have a yurt here.
It's this really cool enclosed space that's perfect for yoga, meditation, or you simply come here, drink some tea, light up your candle, and enjoy being outside. I mean, how cool is this space? And I know we keep using the word "cool," but seriously, this is part of your backyard. - [Cody] It's really cool. And especially with like a hot day like it is in LA, this keeps pretty cool, no pun intended. But that's because with the geodesic shapes that the air circulates freely around and it just doesn't have hot air trapped at the top.
- Exactly. I mean they wanted to mimic the geodesic structure of this home with the top floor. That's why this yurt here is also geodesic with the triangular shapes and it's really cool. And this is only one part of your backyard.
We have so much more to see. Right behind the yurt, we have another cozy outdoor seating area that I want everybody to see. Again, super cool.
And now let's go check out the rest of the backyard. We have a walkway here that wraps around the structure of this property. And look at this.
This is the roof of the lower level bedroom. That's why we have all these skylights. And look at the geodesic structure on top. It actually cantilevers on the back. You can see all the shingles, those massive beams that are holding up the structure above. And Cody, let's get a closeup.
They have these individual skylights, again, filling the lower level with natural light. And for me, I love the fact that I can see such important and fundamental structure elements of this home and be able to interact with it so closely. I mean, this is your roof and that's your top floor. - [Cody] It's really cool.
- It is super cool. We have a small retaining wall here holding up the hillside. Again, you have beautiful fruit, trees, plants, succulents.
That's the balcony we were just on. That section also cantilevers. And just like you said, Cody, I saw those photos where this balcony was like filled with people and it is so cool. It's this really unique angle. Another outdoor seating area here. Actually Cody, can you go back for a second? There's a little pathway here.
There we go. That takes you up to the hillside section. Cody, you and I are on a journey.
Look at all the flowers, these trees, this little back section where we have a small seating area. Come on, give me a break. - [Cody] It's so pretty. - It's pretty, it's lush, it's zen.
And it's such a creative space, like being able to walk at your backyard and have these little moments for you to enjoy and appreciate. And now, let's bring everybody to this section where we have the outdoor dining area. - [Cody] Honestly, probably my favorite part of this entire home.
- I get it. It's just like, it's private. It's this little section.
It's not the biggest backyard but I mean, you can do so much with a space like this, especially with the privacy. You have a long table here, all these trees and landscape. There's actually a pathway here that takes you to the backside of the property where we have another outdoor seating area.
And I have to say, we have the coolest job in the world. We get the opportunity to see some of the most architectural homes in the world and in Los Angeles. And I feel like today was one of those days where we tour something so unique, so one of a kind. And I'm honored that we get the chance to share it with all of you.
I also wanna give big thanks to Carl Gambino for making this tour possible. More information about the property will be in the description of this video. Make sure to check it out. And once again, thank you, all so much for joining us on another episode.
(upbeat music)
2024-06-15 01:18
