London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Sea Ranch Master Planner Lawrence Halprin’s Cliff-Hugging Residence

Sea Ranch Master Planner Lawrence Halprin’s Cliff-Hugging Residence

The home and studio of the legendary landscape architect features a glass solarium and outdoor amphitheater.

Arguably the most acclaimed landscape architect of the 20th century, the late Lawrence Halprin created the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the Keller Fountain Park in Portland, Oregon, which was called "possibly the most important urban space since the Renaissance" by New York Times critic Ada Louise Huxtable.

Halprin’s most famous and resonant design, however, may be the master plan for Sea Ranch, a residential community along the California coast about 100 miles north of San Francisco. In the ’60s, drawing from his early years spent on an Israeli kibbutz, he imagined an idyllic development for people to "inhabit this land and protect the awesome character without softening or altering it." Admirers of Sea Ranch will be interested to hear that Halprin’s own residence has been listed by his estate for $8,000,000.



Unlike any other at Sea Ranch, the Halprin residence is built along the cliffside for spectacular views.



The L-shaped home sits on 5.1 acres. In his master plan for Sea Ranch, Halprin designated that more than half the property be common land, preserving vast meadows as outdoor rooms instead of relying on lawns. He also established guidelines for using natural materials that deferred to the surrounding landscape.

The Halprin residence sits on 5.1 oceanfront acres. Originally built in 1966, the family home was a modest cabin designed by Charles Moore, and in 1979 there came along a detached studio-but in 2001, the house burned down. It was replaced two years later by the current building designed by Buzz Yudell, a longtime colleague of Moore’s. Nearly identical to the first home, the two-bed, two-bath, 2,123-square-foot residence makes use of even higher-quality materials.



A sketch of the home by Lawrence Halprin.

Though Halprin’s own guidelines discourage houses from being built directly on the cliffs, his home cantilevers over the rugged slope. "Walking on the narrow oceanside balcony," writes Kenneth Helphand in his 2017 book Lawrence Halprin, "feels like being on the deck of a ship at sea…From his Sea Ranch cabin, Halprin could experience nature’s forces at their most powerful and primordial."



The solarium protrudes onto the home’s back deck, bringing light deep into the interior.

Broker and realtor Hanne Liisberg, who herself lives in the community, calls the Halprin residence "the most amazing five-acre oceanfront parcel I’ve seen at Sea Ranch or on the coast. Halprin had the opportunity to hike the entire length of what became Sea Ranch. He clearly picked the best."



At the rear of the house, beside the deck and amphitheater, there’s a modest wet bar for outdoor entertaining.

With cedar siding and Douglas fir trim, the house is what Liisberg calls "Sea Ranch classic." Its rising and falling roof planes impart a sense of kinetics, and windows frame views from every room.



Variations of ceiling height in the extended great room help differentiate spaces within the open floor plan.

While the views are certainly impactful, says Liisberg, "it’s not one of these large, pretentious houses. The views are framed in various directions, and I think that creates the experiences as you walk through."



The kitchen features built-in open shelving and a breakfast bar with a raw-edge countertop.

Inside, wooden wall paneling, exposed ceiling beams, and tile flooring envelop visitors in a cocoon of natural materials, reinforcing the indoor/outdoor feel that’s so quintessential to Sea Ranch.



There’s an adjacent amphitheater where Halprin’s wife, Anna, a professional dancer, led workshops. "Being there, flowing from the inside to the outside through the glass solarium, is a magical transition," says Liisberg.



The loft-style main bedroom captures views of both the coast and surrounding treetops. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Liisberg has seen more young families with children moving to Sea Ranch. "I think the pandemic made everybody think about what’s important to us-especially nature," she says. "At Sea Ranch, you can go from the redwood forest to the beach in an hour’s hike."



The separate studio building was added in 1979, and still has Halprin’s drawings pinned to the walls.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×