Chateau del Mar, a model of French style on the bluffs

Only a few dozen houses designed by architect Gerard R. Colcord are still standing. Colcord, who was in his prime in the late 1920s and early ‘30s, designed mostly Country English, Cape Cod and Monterey Colonial homes close to his base in Beverly Hills.

How unusual it is, then, to discover Chateau del Mar, a French-style Colcord built in 1970 in Palos Verdes Estates.

Also rare is its bluff-front site in lower Malaga Cove. The home is one of only six on the oceanfront there.

About this house: It is typical of Colcord’s work. He used distressed wood, thick doors and impressive fireplaces, and he often designed houses as accurate reproductions of architecture from another era.

Asking price: $6,995,000

Size: The chateau has six bedrooms, including the master bedroom suite on the main level, and seven bathrooms plus two half-bathrooms in 6,870 square feet. The lot size is 32,609 square feet.

Features: The home has a walled motor court, a broad back lawn to the cliffs, a living room with a cathedral ceiling, a wood-paneled library, a family room, a room resembling a captain’s cabin on a ship with an arched wood beam ceiling, downstairs recreation room and an office. There is a pool, and arched French doors lead to a terrace. Nearly all of the rooms have ocean views.

Where: Palos Verdes Estates

Listing agents: Anna Randall, Coldwell Banker, (310) 791-6076, and Chris Fitzpatrick, Pacific Land Corp., (310) 519-0155.

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos with caption information on a CD and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Questions can be sent to homeoftheweek@latimes.com.