Napa: Stone schoolhouse turned home seeks $1.5 million

A revival influenced by medieval French, Spanish and Italian buildings, this circa-1914 home started out as schoolhouse. But the real lesson here is the ample use of stone featured throughout the space, a material that is still de rigeur throughout Napa architecture and design.

Per the listing, here’s a bit of history about this home and its use of stone:

The schoolhouse connects to local roots and history in ways that can be seen in the Napa Valley today. Architect William H. Corlett, with several local buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, crafted and signed the original detailed architectural plans. Although the plans were undated, the history of the school suggests that it was constructed in 1914.

The same volcanic earth that produces arguably the world’s finest vintages also produced the Napa rhyolite stone, indigenous to the mountains surrounding the Napa Valley, used by the stonemasons in construction of the original school building. The quarry where the stone was sourced is up the hill from the property. In an interview, the son of school trustee Ernest Streich (who had the school built) mentions that the stone construction was in part because his father “liked to build things nicely.”

In the 1940s, the school was turned into a two-story residence, and was once a weekend retreat for architect William Pereira, designer of the Transamerica Pyramid. Over the years, it saw several additions—new fireplaces and a bedroom were added in the 1970s, and a remodel reinvigorated the kitchen and bathrooms.

Featuring two beds, two baths, and 2,424 square feet, 4496 Redwood Avenue sits on approximately four acres of land. Today the stone entryway arch and floor to ceiling windows from its schoolhouse days can still be seen inside the property. It also comes with a grand patio for entertaining, a garden, and a separate two-bedroom, two-bath guesthouse.

Asking is $1,519,000.

• 4496 Redwood Avenue [Chuck Sawday and Teresa Davis, Pacific Union]
• Napa [Curbed SF]