Dennis McGuire had a special process when it came to designing a house.
“Before he would even start to do any design, put any pen to paper, he would sit at the property for a few months to really get an angle of the lighting and where the sun was and the views,” according to Compass real estate agent Brien Varady.
McGuire, an architect with more than 60 residential projects, did the brunt of his work in Idyllwild. There, most of his designs are nestled in the natural landscape, like this hillside retreat and this estate perched between boulders.
But there are a few outliers: some projects in the Bay Area and even a few on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.
Now, one of those rare non-Idyllwild projects is on the market in Topanga, according to a listing on Homes.com.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 21227 Colina Drive spans 2,000 square feet. It hit the market last month with a $2.65 million price tag. Varady holds the listing. Catherine Campbell of Sotheby’s International Realty is a co-listing agent.
A 1970s house that was built to last
The Topanga residence was built in 1979 – and most of its original elements are still intact, Varady told Homes.com in an interview.
“He did really beautiful countertops in the bathroom and in the kitchen,” he said. “I mean, maybe a window or two might have been changed out, but all the original wood, the hardwood floors, it’s all original.”
Varady said his sellers are only the second owners of the home, and they’ve preserved much of its character.
Similar architecturally historic homes in the Southern California region often hit the market in need of updating or extra upkeep given their age and design, but this property was built to last, according to Varady.
“The thing about Dennis McGuire — it was all designed to be practical,” he explained. “It was to be able to stay on top of the maintenance without running into poverty in the process.”
A private escape with cross-canyon views
McGuire’s touch for private, organic design is palpable in the home, according to Varady.
The property is tucked into a cul-de-sac, and in the rear, it boasts cross-canyon views. More than that, it’s accessible to Topanga State Park.
“It very much feels like an artist’s retreat,” Varady said. “It’s at the end of a cul-de-sac. It’s a private driveway. You really feel like you’re out of L.A. You feel like you’re somewhere else.”
Another selling point of the property: it’s on a mostly flat acre, affording the next owners the chance to add a swimming pool, guest house, vegetable garden or something else, Varady said.
It’s a rare topography in the otherwise hilly Topanga landscape, and it comes at a good deal, he added. The median listing price in Topanga is just shy of $1.9 million, Homes.com data showed, but nearly 20% of properties are valued between $2.54 million and $2.8 million.
“Not everybody’s going to want to live [on] an acre,” Varady said. “There’s going to be people that aren’t going to get it or want this. But for those that love architecture, it really hits the era of the 70s … It’s just done so classic and beautiful.”
“Every single time I get a chance to show it, I get excited because I’ll hang out by myself for a while,” he added.
