Featured Home: Fair Oaks Custom Carter Sparks Home Hits the Market!
This unique property was destined to be built on this street, and only this street–Shangrila Dr. Designed by famous architect Carter Sparks in 1974, this home is tucked back into rolling hills Fair Oaks Estates and among several other Mid Century Modern homes.
The Shangrila Drive property was designed for an era long since passed. A time when hosts would gather friends in their homes and entertain their guests in dedicated conversation rooms. Nowhere is there a place to mount a modern flat screen tv. Instead, orange velour couch cushions, wood paneling, and a brick fireplace give you a type of cozy meant for deep conversation. Floor to ceiling windows encapsulate an atrium entryway that is visible from almost endless angles. Slatted walls create a separation of space, while still allowing for a continuation of movement from one room to another. All the while, the understated front-facing exterior nearly hides the property amongst the oak trees.
This is one of those types of properties that Mid Century purists wish they could buy up just for the sake of preservation. We will likely never see such a home built this way again in our lifetimes, and the best we can hope for is it’s new owner will be a like-minded enthusiast and preserve this house in a way that modernizes health and safety–yet keeps its distinctive uniqueness for future generations to appreciate.
This house was listed on the market on a Wednesday at $699,000 and gained lots of attention online and in person for it’s beauty and price. There was more than 20 groups touring the property per day and quickly went pending that Saturday afternoon with multiple offers. It’s yet to close but it will be interesting to see how much it sells for. This home deffinetly wasn’t perfect and has some differed Maintance that needed to be done. There was a pest report on file with a bid of $70k of pest work to be done included replacing outdoor wood decks, siding and termite damage. Also, the roof could use a replacement.
Check out the Carter Sparks Archive - a place where local preservationist Justin Wood & enthusiast have created a catalog of Sparks’ work. This archive documents all the custom homes Carter has built and new information is continuously being added when these homes hit the market and new information is contributed.
Ad in the Sac Bee from when it last sold in 1982. Photo Credit: Carter Sparks Archive - cartersparks.org
