How They Pulled It Off: An Octagonal House Built Around a Redwood Tree
In Mendocino, California, a couple renovate an unusual midcentury "tree house," turning it into a vacation rental that takes advantage of the nature around it.
In Mendocino, California, a couple renovate an unusual midcentury "tree house," turning it into a vacation rental that takes advantage of the nature around it.
Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.
Interior designer Bret Rossman and his husband, Phil Zimmerman, discovered their love for the California coastline when they got married in Big Sur. After a friend tipped them off to a quaint town with a population of 600 called Mendocino, a former logging region that has since been revitalized as an artist colony, the couple chanced upon an unusual gem for sale: an octagon-shaped house built around a centuries-old redwood tree. Dubbed the "Mendocino Tree House," this 1,500-square feet structure would offer the former Minnesotans a rare opportunity to own a tiny piece of an enchanting forest.
The redwood tree, a.k.a "the keeper of the house," as Rossman calls it, is visible no matter where you are inside.
Photo by Mendocino Drone
"I’m a firm believer in ‘everything happens for a reason.’ We literally bought it in less than 48 hours of it being listed," says Rossman.
There’s not much known about Jim Hunt, the architect, except for what the couple’s contractor, Terry Tidwell, has shared. (Tidwell was hired by the previous owners to bring the Tree House up to code in 2015; Rossman and Zimmerman hired him for their own renovations in 2024.) What they do know is that the house was designed in 1971, built in 1972, and that "Hunt was really inspired to blend the building of the home as an accoutrement to nature, not the other way around," Rossman recalls. "People get very much into the spirit of the tree. We call her the keeper of the house."
All the rooms flow into one another in this open-concept floor plan.
Phot by Mendocino Drone
The redwood tree in the middle of the house is still growing, so at some point the inner atrium will have to be trimmed to accommodate the expanding trunk, although Rossman says luckily, that won’t "take place in our lifetime."
Photo by Mendocino Drone
See the full story on Dwell.com: How They Pulled It Off: An Octagonal House Built Around a Redwood Tree
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