Down the hill from our house is Casa del Herrero, or House of the Blacksmith. Without doing much research into it, I suggested Adam and I take his mom on the tour. I assumed that the property had humble origins, but I was wrong with a capital R. George Fox Steedman, whose fortune came from munitions, commissioned architect George Washington Smith to build the house in the 1920s.
The architecture is appealing, if you don't mind the dimness of the Spanish Colonial style, but where the house shines is in the details. Visitors aren't allowed to photograph inside, so you'll have to take my word that nothing was too small for Steedman to obsess over. I was particularly drawn to the stone paving in the motorcourt (first photo below). As for the second photo, Steedman adopted the centaur as his personal symbol, inspired by the "steed" in his name; the creature is all over the house, including this outdoor chair. (It reminds me of Edward Gorey.) There was no shortage of self-mythologizing in this family: The "blacksmith" part of the house's name comes from Steedman's metalwork hobby. His studio is stunning.
The gardens are lovely enough, although they pale in comparison—unfairly, unavoidably—to Lotusland. That's a frog statuette at the top of the third photo below.
If you come to town, I'll encourage you visit Casa del Herrero, but I don't know that I need to do the tour again. (If only one could wander freely....) Then again, I'm sure I'd spot more amazing little details—like the cement (?) drain cover below.
P.S. Brick stairs look so much better this way!