A relic of true mid-century West Coast architecture. The cylindrical shaped building sits on the dramatic oceanfront of the Pacific.

The Sandcastle by famous architect Harry Gesner in Malibu California.

A relic of true mid-century West Coast architecture, the Sandcastle, a cylindrical shaped building, sits on the dramatic oceanfront of the Pacific. Once the home of famous architect Gesner and his family in the 1970’s, the house is now on the market after the passing of Gesner.

Harry Gesner, a surfer from Santa Monica was famous for creating designs that correlated to nature. The sandcastle being a prime example of this. It was said by his son that “He would sit on a job site for hours in a chair with his sketchpad, and he wouldn’t leave until he saw how nature interacted with the environment and that particular site.”

This particular iconic building “is named for its sand bucket-like tower and undulating roofline, inspired by the ripples of an ocean wave”. The architect was known to use salvaged materials such as “reinforced concrete, hand-carved wood, plus salvaged materials such as old telephone poles, reclaimed maple gym floors, marble from a demolished public bathhouse, as well as windows and doors from an old Hollywood movie theatre and church”. The unique floorplan of this home resembles that of a spiral shell and features a driftwood spiral staircase that leads to an upstairs studio space.

The Sandcastle is nestled in a secluded cove just steps from the sandy beach below. Gesner hand built the home to be close to the surf break and to fulfill his philosophy that said “You have to have a view. You want perspective to your life”.

In his biography “As Gesner said about Sandcastle in Houses of the Sundown Sea: The Architectural Vision of Harry Gesner” Gesner stated about the Sandcastle: 1 "The spirit in the design and materials are what you immediately feel in this house. All people who enter and spend a brief period or long time here immediately feel at home and relaxed. The experience never becomes commonplace or boring because over everything is the sound and rhythm of the waves breaking on the shore in front of the house."