Marcel Sedletzsky Selected Projects

Selected Projects

Introduction | Biography | Selected Projects | OAC Finding Aid | Wild Coast Press
 

The Jackson House (Carmel Meadows, 1962)
Henry and Eleanor Jackson bought a spectacular site for their new home in 1962 from a realtor who was a friend of a friend of Sedletzky. Through this connection they became his clients, whose wishes for "three bedrooms," "rough textures," and "natural colors" resulted some months later in plans that epitomized Sedletzky's mastery of working with the environment, in this case maximizing the incredible views while placing the multilevel house as unobtrusively as possible above the beach.
The "Tree" House (Carmel, 1964)
Sedletzky and his Carmel neighbor/contractor Lloyd Campbell worked together to design and build this house on spec. Original owner Robert Rendrick called it "great, a wonderful house, a very unusual house for that time." Again views out through the tall glass windows were "gorgeous," and Bernice Rendrick felt the house was "such a spiritual place" due to the fantastic lighting, particularly through the skylight at the peak of the roof. An excellent example of Sedletzky's signature integrating of the buildings he designed into the surrounding landscape.
The Simkin House (Esalen, Big Sur, 1968)
One of Sedletzky’s most distinctive houses was built near the “alternative educational center” of Esalen, where owner James Simkin had been a Gestalt instructor. Due to his training seminars, he and his wife Anne often had as many as fifteen people staying in a house designed for three people! With an “impossible” kitchen and little privacy, they nonetheless felt it retained a lot of status on the basis of it’s clearly unusual architecture. Based on triangles, it holds its own against Pacific storms and a blistering southwestern sun, while giving the living room a perfect 180 degree view for miles along the coast.
The Stahl House (Carmel Valley, 1970)
This soaring, angular, asymmetrical wood-framed home has gone through a number of changes, but owner Bill Stahl calls it “a wonderful work of art…and it’s all Marcel.” It is a perfect hyperbolic paraboloid, wherein every wall has a twist or turn. And as with many of Sedletzky’s residential projects, arrival and entry play an important part in experiencing the structure, and a number of Sedletzky trademarks are present: a high wall of glass, a high-pitched and asymmetric roofline, a row of skylights and the presence of colored glass. Sedletzky designed this house from the inside out, and in contrast to the norm, that was the way it had to be built.
Casa Concha (Bahia Kino, Sonora, Mexico, 1977)
This house in a quiet Mexican village is the only residence Sedletzky would design and build for himself. He and his second wife Barbara bought the lot during a vacation tour of the area. After numerous trips to get the lay of the land, while keeping in mind Barbara’s wish for a “simple one-bedroom cabin,” Sedletzky became builder as well as architect. The ground floor shell contains a simple room with a corner kitchen and bathroom, on top on which is balanced a delicate curvilinear composition that gives it its name: “Shell House.”
The Penhoet Guest House (Carmel Valley, 1979)
Ed and Camille Penhoet went to Sedletzky and requested he design a master plan that included not only this “weekend” house, but stables for horses and an as-yet unbuilt main house. A few concepts, such as putting the barn close to the house, and giving Mrs. Penhoet the ability to see her horses while standing at the kitchen sink, informed the features included when the guest house was done. It is described by the owners as “sort of all one room, which for a weekend house was a friendly idea.”
The Schulte House (Atascadero, 1985)
This was the last house to be designed by Sedletzky. Owners Andrea and Jerome Schulte were swayed by him from their original vision of a mannered and traditional “French style” house, toward something more “regionally sensitive” that could be integrated into the landscape. A challenge in this design was to eliminate the need for air conditioning (at the request of the owners) – in a region where summer temperatures climb well over 100 degrees. This was accomplished partly by building the house into the earth, partly by a huge reverse fan to extract air. All in all, says Mrs. Schulte, “It was like sculpture.”
Gansa House (Aptos, 1967)
Dr. Alexander Gansa and his first wife, Marie, commissioned Marcel Sedletzky to design a house for them after touring the Jackson house and others that Sedletzky had designed in the Carmel area. Dr. Gansa notes that the architect wanted “to have the house look and feel like a tent, a house that would blend in, that would seem to sit on the sand.” The architect and the doctor had several disagreements during the course of the construction, but were able to achieve a compromise that satisfied all involved: the owners, the architect, and Mother Nature. For additional information: "A Tent on the Beach" by Bill Staggs, Architecture Week, no. 153 . 09 July 2003