Perched atop the Big Sur bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Shaw House is the embodiment of William Shaw’s—the architect and owner—interest in integrating the built and natural environments. Encapsulating the Third Bay Tradition style, the massing and materiality of the house personify Shaw’s aesthetic ethos. The house is a manifestation of Shaw’s love for Big Sur and his consciousness towards environmental design.
Shaw was the steward of the Central Coast, specifically the Monterey Peninsula, and always carried the sentiment of working with nature, not against it. In addition to being a grounded environmentalist, Shaw was a prolific designer and an active community leader. His environmental awareness was evident in his preservation experience leading restoration and adaptive reuse projects. After spending a year abroad and winning the Rome Prize in Environmental Design at the American Academy in Rome, Shaw’s perception on environment and human experience at the city-scale was changed. In 1969, he founded his own firm, Will Shaw and Associates, and continued to synthesize his interest in urban planning and architecture while incorporating preservation best practices.
In 1974, Shaw designed a home for himself and his wife Mary Shaw. The inception for the Shaw House began when Shaw and Mary visited Rome in 1967. He scribbled some ideas on the back of a concert program and underneath wrote “Love is a shell.” The house became this shell, an embodiment of Shaw’s aesthetic on both the exterior and interior.
He built the staircase first, originally leading to nowhere. The stairs and the timbers supporting the roof were salvaged from the heavy timber Dolan Creek Bridge, the last of the redwood bridges in Big Sur to be demolished, making it a part of the family of “Big Sur ‘bridge timber’ houses.” With timbers peaking in an A-line roof, the eastern wall is composed of floor to ceiling glass panels creating a cathedral effect. Intricate details like the artful stained-glass window at the entrance paired with the high ceilings of the common space highlight Shaw’s hyper-awareness of the human experience at both the macro and micro scales. The massing is a hybrid form that blends modern aesthetic with vernacular functionality. Shaw purposefully curated the environment with opportunities for humans to engage with the natural setting, in turn creating a symbol of Big Sur design sensibility.
In order to uphold Shaw’s legacy, Chattel nominated the Shaw House to the Monterey County Historical Register and prepared a Mills Act Contract through approval to help support the preservation of the building. The preservation effort was spearheaded by owner (and repeat Chattel client) Mark Haddawy who has thoughtfully stewarded the house and its remarkable setting for several years.
