sheats/goldstein pool, 2011.
minute the sky is just a ladder as we stand in the kitchen. Other
details: the main table-bookcase running along the eastside
of the house is a beautiful concrete and wood piece, done by
Lautner and Goldstein, that used to be Formica and plaster
cabinetry. A glass and concrete dining table that seats eight was
designed and installed, a kitchen bar added. It’s safe to say, given
Lautner’s affinity for interiors and the minimal opportunities to
get his hands on them, the two enjoyed themselves.
As we move around the house, Goldstein straightens
out picture frames, wipes counter tops clean. Everything is
so precise and immaculately maintained one might hazard to
think it’s to the point of near compulsion. Dozens of book cases
are stuffed with books on travel, fashion, architecture and
basketball. Magazines, from all eras, form perfect skyscrapers
that dot each room.
A fun feature of the house is that you have to exit the
primary living space to get to the guest bedrooms and the
master suite. This forces you outside along the moat-like
concrete decks and into the incredible environment Goldstein
has submerged his house into. Indeed, the ambient sound of
running water from the waterfall reinforces the feeling that
somehow you’re inside a sort of submarine surrounded by a sea
of green. That, too, is by design—Goldstein’s.
The only time Lautner and Goldstein had a difference of
opinion happened to be over the landscaping. Goldstein fell
in love with tropical places when he “escaped” Wisconsin and
wanted to move in that direction. Lautner preferred to plant
pine trees. “He didn’t oppose me, but I could see he didn’t
understand it either,” says Goldstein.
I would have to say Goldstein got it right. He bought up the
surrounding acres ascending down the hill to the street below
and began planting tropical plants. “And that was the start of
an immense landscaping project that has been continuing on
for 20 years,” he continues, as we descend concrete steps to his
bedroom. “The hillside is apparently perfectly situated because
the sun moves directly onto it,” he tells me. “My landscape
architect, who specializes in tropical vegetation, is amazed
himself at the way some things thrive here.”
We take a detour along one of the stone pathways and
come to a deck jutting out into the thick forest. It has a glass
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