An extraordinary Bay Area estate reached the open market this spring. The Woodside property known as Green Gables is priced at $135 million.
The asking price does contribute to the property’s esoteric persona—a whopping sum by any measure—but what is far more interesting is the 74 acres of grounds, and the fact that they haven’t been subdivided or significantly altered since the estate was created in the early 1910s by Golden State banker Mortimer Fleishhacker.
That sense of stability and historicity is potent sales material. As for the house, it boasts Arts and Crafts architecture, and that’s cheering news for architecture buffs who haven’t had occasion to take a peek at the mansion before. It was completed in 1935, according to listing materials. But there are six other houses on the estate—each having its own milieu on the grounds—and the final tally on accommodations is 34 bedrooms and 26 baths. Original furniture and preserved rooms by interior design icon Elsie de Wolfe are included in the main house. A turnkey corporate retreat, and a trophy for the right company.
The grounds are designed in the Italian style, with influence that appears to mix baroque and romantic elements—formality, but also winding paths, stone structures, a Roman-style pool, and a planting of elm trees that might be called an arboretum colonnade. Botanical and vegetable gardens, forest, and a lake are other features of this unusually impressive larger estate.