An Arts and Crafts Masterpiece in Ojai

Myron Hunt designed this Arts and Crafts-style beauty for a glassware magnate in Ojai. After a loving restoration, the Libbey Estate is on the market for $6.25 million.

By Diane Wedner
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

March 9, 2008

BILL and Kathy Couturié, longtime Arts and Crafts move- ment enthusiasts and antiques collectors, knew they'd hit the jackpot when they bought their Myron Hunt-designed Ojai home in 1993.

The house was built in 1908 for Edward Drummond Libbey, the philanthropist who helped transform the sleepy Ventura County settlement into the architecturally significant town it is today.

The prosperous glass manufacturer, like many other Midwestern magnates, was drawn to Southern California's mild winters.

He was smitten with Ojai and asked Hunt, the renowned architect, to design a lodge in the Arts and Crafts style on a plum piece of Ojai land with sweeping views. Hunt designed the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and, with Elmer Grey, the Henry E. Huntington residence that now houses the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino, among other famous local landmarks.

"When you're here, it's like you've stepped back in time," said Bill Couturié, a documentary filmmaker and former architect.

"This house is not formal; it's very comfortable, a put-your-feet-up kind of place."

About this home: The Libbey Estate is designated by Ojai as a historic landmark and also has Mills Act status, which provides significant property-tax savings in exchange for the current and future owners' maintenance of the property.

Most notable are the home's aesthetics: The living- and dining-room ceilings and the front door boast paintings by a Chumash elder that were done, according to legend, as thanks to Libbey for supporting the tribe.

The home's old-growth redwood board-and-bat construction lends it a warm ambience.

Couturié is fond of the Stravinsky Suite, so named after the famous Russian composer, who stayed in that guest room in the 1950s while he conducted at the Ojai Music Festival.

The filmmaker and his wife also enjoy the views of the Sulfur and Topa Topa mountains, the latter of which produces a late-afternoon glow known locally as the "pink moment."

"I consider this house a work of art," Couturié said of the home he and his wife restored and furnished with museum-quality furniture and art.

Asking price: $6.25 million

Size: The main house has three bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms in 3,500 square feet. The property also has a two-bedroom, two-bathroom guesthouse; a two-bedroom, one-bathroom caretaker's cottage; and a separate office in what was once a gardener's shed. The property encompasses 3.7 acres; buyers may legally add a building on one of the acres.

Features: The house has two full basements; two fireplaces; the original hand-hammered mica lampshades, sconces and chandeliers; the original butler's pantry; a 750-bottle wine cellar; a steam shower; an O'Keefe & Merritt range with yellow knobs in the kitchen; a Miele dishwasher; a convection oven; and a remodeled master bathroom with period amenities. The property also has a 60-foot tiled pool, a courtyard, a barbecue area and a three-car garage.

Where: Ojai

Real estate agent: Patty Waltcher, Coldwell Banker Previews, (805) 340-3774.

diane.wedner@latimes.com

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send high-resolution color photos with caption and credit information on a CD and a detailed description of the house to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., CA 90012. Questions may be sent to homeoftheweek@latimes.com.