About 15 years ago, Julie and Will Parish were looking to make a conservation purchase — of “land that needed love,” as she puts it — within an hour or two of their home in San Francisco. A property in the Russian River Valley, whose real estate listing showed a 25-foot waterfall, caught their eye. But, since the Sonoma Land Trust was in talks to buy the 1,000-acre parcel, their agent cautioned against falling in love with it. 

The warning was in vain. Pulling onto the site, Julie was instantly smitten. “We drove around and it just got better and better and better — the variety of the ecosystem,” she recalls. 

Following some negotiations, the seller ultimately donated 550 acres to Santa Rosa-based nonprofit LandPaths and the Parishes acquired the remainder. “This is a thousand-acre preserve for which we share stewardship responsibility,” Julie explains. Both she and Will are longstanding supporters of public parks and environmental education. 

There is a conservation easement held by the Land Trust and, although the property is private, the public can access it through LandPaths as a docent or volunteer. The organization also offers docent-led outings and camps for kids. According to Will, via LandPaths, about 200 kids from the Santa Rosa school district attended day camp here last year. “I’d walk or run by and see them scurrying around with butterfly nets and magnifying glasses,” Julie says. “I can’t even tell you how grateful I am to be a part of this.”

Meanwhile, the Parishes host workshops, retreats and community events. Early on, aiming to revitalize the coho salmon population, they honed in on a creek. “We saw the potential for restoring it — having the human touch actually improve nature,” Will says. They constructed a large dirt embankment to hold the creek in its original channel, against the hillside. Excavators dug up the dirt on the spot, creating a large hole that became a pond from rain and runoff. “It’s a wonderful wildlife feature and provides recreation value as well,” he adds.

After initially erecting a canvas tent overlooking the pond, the couple enlisted architecture and design studio Perkins&Will, Blasen Landscape Architecture, landscape contractor Dexter Estate Landscapes, building contractor Fairweather & Associates and interior designer Sally Ward for a residence on a 3-acre hilltop site that had been “seriously degraded,” Julie says. 

Perkins&Will architects Peter Pfau and Melanie Turner “really understood that we wanted to be as light on the land in every possible way,” she continues. “[The site] was in the corner of the property, so from a visual and experiential standpoint, we had our own little discreet hub. The good news was, it had already been destroyed, so we couldn’t make it any worse.” Indeed, by all accounts, the venue was a swampy mess — with potential. “There was some sense that we could create a complex of buildings that could interrelate on the site and reintroduce the natural character back up onto the hilltop,” Pfau says.  

Today, ascending the hillside steps, past the garage, the dwelling gradually comes into view, amid an open meadow and oak grove. Pfau likens the structure’s material palette to a tree’s bark and inner layers — “darker outside, with warmer woods inside.” The exterior is clad in FSC-certified redwood with an opaque stain that evokes charred timber. The interior tongue-and-groove walls comprise fir sourced on-site and painted white. The vaulted ceiling is lined in FSC-certified cedar, with exposed cedar Glulam trusses and steel tie rods. 

“We were very deliberate in every single thing,” Will says. “Whenever we could use wood that was from the property, we did. … Whenever we had an opportunity to bring the outside inside, we took it.” Hence, the furniture fabricated with felled trees from the premises and expansive Fleetwood glass doors that slide open and pocket into the walls. 

Then there are the breezeways flanking the volume that contains the cooking, dining and living areas. One passage provides separation from the primary suite and the other from the guest wing. The latter’s bedrooms are named for their views: meadow and oak. The entire abode is united under a zinc standing seam roof.

Along with drought-tolerant and native plants — as well as additional oak trees — the landscape design includes a meditative labyrinth, edible garden with a shed/office, swimming pool and patio with an Argentine grill. “We didn’t do too much and were trying to be sensitive about the surroundings,” says landscape architect Eric Blasen, who worked in tandem with fellow firm principals Silvina Blasen and Gary Rasmussen. “These are the projects that really make your heart beat because you know you’re doing the right thing and you’re getting the ability to explore different strategies.”

With net-zero aspirations in mind, a ground-mounted solar array funnels electricity into the grid and solar hot-water panels installed on a trellis shade heat the pool. Underground power lines negate overhead wires and poles, plus help reduce fire risks. 

The home not only reflects its collaborators’ objective of fostering connections to the land, but is also a testament to their willingness to experiment and even course correct. The exterior was originally painted a color that was deemed too blue in direct sunlight, and the position of the house was open for discussion. “The location was really finalized when we went out there with stakes and located the corners of the building and the breezeways,” Turner says. “We shifted around this rectangle to make sure the views through the breezeways were meaningful for the clients.” 

The corridor that holds the ping-pong table was widened — an adjustment that encapsulates another goal of the project. “It was as much about a place for our family as it was a place for Will and me to realize our dream of improving and protecting a piece of land,” Julie says. After partaking in a ping-pong tournament at a friend’s house, the Parishes requested that their breezeway accommodate spectator seating around the table. “What I loved about Peter and Melanie is, they really enjoyed input from us, even though that wrecked the symmetry,” Will says with a smile. “It was more important to have the right house at the right place.”