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George Lucas replaces Modernist masterpiece with Cape Cod on a California Beach

George Lucas replaces Modernist masterpiece with Cape Cod on a California Beach

George Lucas is making architectural waves again. And it has nothing to do with a museum. In 2012 AN reported that Lucas had torn down 3389 Padaro Lane, a 1981 Modernist masterpiece on the beach by sculptor and architect Sherrill Broudy in Carpinteria, just east of Santa Barbara. Now he’s finished the replacement—designed by Appleton & Associates. And let’s just say it’s less of a masterpiece.

Featuring colonial detailing and a wrap around porch, it looks like it would be more at home on the East Coast than on the West. Los Angeles architect Tom Marble (who previously wrote about the house for AN) described Lucas’s new abode as “Cape Cod Light, an invasive non-native systematically destroying a strain of modernism that evolved in this part of Carpenteria.”

Built in 1981, 3389 Padaro—known in the area as the best house on the beach—was one of just a few buildings designed by Broudy, who had initially worked as a sculptor. That background allowed him to create wood and copper detailing that gave the compound a warm, and somewhat Asian aesthetic. His excellent eye extended throughout the site, where he laid out a gym, an art studio, and a lap pool in such a way as to create a tropical oasis.

Appleton has not yet posted the home to its web site, which is unusual since it’s shared homes by David Zucker, Mitch Glazer, Phil Gersh, and other Hollywood A-listers. Lucas is busy talking with much more contemporary-style architects for his Chicago endeavor, including MAD and Jeanne Gang.


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