Sonoma County Points of Interest
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The Sea Ranch Store was one of three prototype projects that determined the architectural style of the development. The store included a deep porch and entry, a bank of post office boxes, and the stretch of high wall with a ram logo. The store was modest, meeting local needs: mail, milk, butter, eggs and few sundries.
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The store was expanded to include the lodge, dining and other facilities.
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The Sea Ranch Lodge
28 February 2018
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The Sea Ranch Equestrian Center is visible from the public right-of-way on the Coastal Highway
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Everything at The Sea Ranch is carefully considered, including the cypress trees and the street signs.
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Vintage Shed as architectural inspiration
Except where noted, photographs were taken on 5 May 2022.
Coast Highway South of Gualala
In 1963, this ten-mile stretch of the California coast, one hundred miles north of San Francisco, was the Ohlson sheep ranch. In that year, Oceanic Properties purchased the property to develop a "radically innovative residential community." The project director, Alfred Boeke, hired professionals from a wide range of disciplines: foresters, grassland advisors, engineers, attorneys, hydrologists, climatologists, geologists, geographers, demographers, graphic artists, and public relations and marketing personnel.
Boeke hired landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, who had studied at Harvard University under Walter Gropius. Boeke and Halprin wanted The Sea Ranch to reflect the ecology and aesthetics of the region and to avoid suburbanization. Boeke hired architects Joseph Esherick, Charles Moore, Donlyn Lyndon, and William Turnbull. The architects shared a belief in the precepts of the Bay Region Style.
Ground was broken in 1964. Three prototype projects were built: Condominium One, a group of hedgerow houses, and a store near the condominium.
According to Charles Moore:
"Our work is based on two ideas. The first was the idea of the four-columned canopy that delimited interior space by pinpointing a particular, precise, and central spot on the planet. The second was the saddlebag: a room, bay alcove, or window seat attached to the main spine or central space, making an extended place to inhabit with your body or imagination."
Source: NRHP Nomination for the Hines House submitted in 2021.
Three properties in The Sea Ranch are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Condominium 1, the Baker House and the Hines House.