Destination Estate With a Storied History, $25M Adobe Creek Lodge Up for Sale

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Adobe Creek Lodge, a historic property in Los Altos Hills, CA, which once encompassed 100 acres and could hold up to 8,000 guests, is now on the market for $25 million. 

Current owner Robert Wayman, the former CFO and executive vice president of Hewlett-Packard, bought it in 1994 and restored it to its current, pristine state. 

“It’s impeccably maintained, super-rare, and truly one-of-a-kind,” says listing agent Ryan Gowdy. “You could not duplicate this today.”

The storied estate morphed as it changed hands, even converting into a recreational club, something no longer possible in the residential area.

According to a history compiled by the Los Altos Hills Historical Society, the home was built in 1934 for Milton Haas, a San Francisco businessman who wanted a country retreat. He snapped up 35 acres of land in what is now Los Altos Hills, and commissioned an 11,000-square-foot Tudor-style manor that set him back $250,000, a large sum during the Depression. 

Adobe Creek Lodge

Two-story foyer

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Guesthouse

Formal dining room

Living room

Patio

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Haas kept it for just a decade, before selling it to Henry Waxman, who owned bakeries in San Francisco. Waxman expanded the property with 28 more acres and developed it as a commercial club, with two swimming pools, barbecue facilities, parking for 2,000 cars, an 80-foot bar, and two dance pavilions, according to the Los Altos Hills Historical Society.

After a 10-year-run, in 1955, Waxman also sold, this time to a San Francisco restaurateur, Frank Martinelli, who continued to use the facility as a club.

A historic image of the Adobe Creek Lodge

Ryan Gowdy

Los Altos Hills was incorporated in the 1950s as a residential area, but Adobe Creek Lodge was allowed to continue as a day resort for 20 more years. Marin County hoteliers David Bellucci and his brother Alfred picked up the lodge for $1 million in 1961, with the intent of of running it as a daytime destination.

Additional structures were built on the property, including the Tally-Ho restaurant, and stables, carnival equipment, and trailer housing for staff. It was a popular place: In 1970, as many as 8,000 people were reportedly turning out regularly on the weekends.

In 1976, Bellucci failed to change the zoning restriction on the club. With no business to run and no summertime crowds, the property fell into disrepair. The property was eventually turned over to Resolution Trust Company. In 1994, Wayman bought the place and spent years and millions of dollars to convert it back to its original, residential state. 

He hired RJ Dailey Construction, Moyer Associates Architects, and Thomas Klope Associates landscape architects to restore, renovate, and expand the Tudor style, while preserving or reproducing original details. 

The main residence now includes three beds, three full baths, and two half-baths, with 8,572 square feet. Original features with modern updates include a living room, formal dining room, family room, home theater, study, and chef’s kitchen. 

The spread contains a main house, multiple terraces, a pool, tennis courts, formal gardens and natural beauty on about 49 acres, with much of the other land sold off and developed before 1994.

The former Tally-Ho restaurant has been converted into a 3,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath guesthouse with kitchen and laundry, with an added second floor. (The dance floor remains.) 

While its days as a destination are long gone, Wayman has opened the place to charity fundraisers and events. There’s still parking for 200 and the home can host “in excess of 500” guests, Gowdy estimates.

And while a hotel or event site is out of the question, the land comes with six flat acres and five separate parcels, which would allow the next owner to create a family compound with three more homes, if desired.

The spot is woodsy, serene, and private, but only three miles to downtown Los Altos, and two miles to the highway. “You feel you’re in a remote location, because it’s peaceful and quiet but you’re really close to anything,” Gowdy says.

The post Destination Estate With a Storied History, $25M Adobe Creek Lodge Up for Sale appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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