Fire Guts Handcrafted Home, 30 Years of Work : Emergency: Frank Peterson’s stunning residence perched above Ventura explodes into flames. He hopes to rebuild.

Frank Peterson spent three decades building his home by hand, piecing it together from other old houses to create an idiosyncratic hexagonal nest perched high above downtown Ventura.

In a characteristic moment of optimism, Peterson buried a time capsule in one wall of the home in October.

“I wanted to leave something for future generations,” he said at the time.

But the time capsule--and the stunning handcrafted home itself--would last only another two months.

The home exploded into flames Wednesday night with just about everything Peterson, 64, and wife, Lucille Duffy, 50, owned.

It all burned--about $700,000 worth--to an ashy crisp in 20 minutes after a propane heater in a basement room tipped over.

Peterson and Duffy were treated for second-degree burns and smoke inhalation after trying to put the flames out with a garden hose, neighbors said. They are recuperating at a daughter’s home in downtown Ventura. Two firefighters also received minor injuries fighting the two-alarm blaze.

Christine Kaminski, 42, who rented a basement apartment in the home, was unhurt.

“I heard a big explosion and a rumbling, roaring sound like you might hear at a big bonfire,” Kaminski said Thursday, sitting on a curb beside the architectural carnage. “I got out and managed to save my car.”

Peterson lost a Triumph TR3 he was planning to rebuild, and his mini-van was badly damaged.

In an age of slap-dash, cookie-cutter construction, Peterson’s house was a visual treat, filled with handcrafted stairways, cozy nooks and stunning vistas from a series of serpentine decks.

Much of the wood for the cedar, pine and brick home was salvaged from eight condemned houses, an old Ventura drugstore and an abandoned lemon factory in Santa Paula.

Several tables and counters were built from marble Peterson brought back from a stay in Greece. The house had been adorned with wooden sculptures, ceramic figurines and stained glass--all made by family members.

Because of its beauty, the home was a favorite spot for fund-raisers, including one for former Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh when he ran for president in 1976.

A Korean War veteran who worked as a civil engineer at Point Mugu for 34 years, Peterson is deeply involved in liberal causes and civil rights issues. The centerpiece of the time capsule he installed was a wall of names of civilians who perished during the decade-long civil war in El Salvador.

When he wasn’t caravaning food and medical aid to El Salvador in his beat-up pickup truck, Peterson worked on his home and the home of former next-door neighbor Paul Chadwick.

“Paul and Frank each wanted to build a house,” said Catherine Worden, Chadwick’s widow, who still lives next door to Peterson. “So they designed and built two homes right next to each other.”

Firefighters saved Worden’s home, which loosely resembles Peterson’s creation.

“I feel so sorry,” Worden said Thursday as she looked out her living-room window at her neighbor’s charred home. “Frank spent his life, all his energies, on that house. He was always working on it. That’s what he did.”

But Peterson and Duffy aren’t giving up yet.

“I still have the floor plan,” Peterson said. “I will rebuild it.”