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REAL ESTATE Unlived-in dream house listed for $8.2M Custom residence has 8,800 square feet on 700 acres — and no straight walls Comment By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Apr. 10, 2016 at 6:35 PM Updated Apr 10, 2016 at 6:50 PM By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Apr. 10, 2016 at 6:35 PM Updated Apr 10, 2016 at 6:50 PM » Social News It’s a sumptuous, magical home of 8,800 square feet with lots of marble and blue-grey stucco, a stunning spiral staircase, many wood carvings on Native American themes, pervasive shapes from nature and virtually no straight lines — and it recently went on the market for $8.2 million, making it one of, if not the, most expensive homes in the Rogue Valley ever. It’s on 700 acres, above Payne Cliff, across the freeway from Ashland, and is the creation of Genesis and Sulara, previously named Dr. Scott Young, and his wife, Robin James. He is a hand surgeon and shaman and she is a healer and daughter of the founder of Raymond James financial services. The house was built over the past 14 years. They moved to Maui before it was finished in March. The home was designed from the shamanic visions of Genesis, he said in a phone interview from Hawaii, and executed by longtime Ashland builder Ed Bemis, with the help of many local artists and artisans. Two large Brazilian mahogany entry doors are engraved by Russell Beebe, featuring fish, snakes, raptors, coyotes, cougar, all framed in a stucco arch, flanked by stunning river rock walls and hand-shaped copper fencing and gates to the backyard fish pond. Beebe sculpted the “We Are Here” totem pole in downtown Ashland — and his little carved animals subtly dot the home. “It was a trip working for the doctor,” says Beebe. “We workmen would be up there on appointment to discuss things with him and we always had to wait for Scott’s latest dream before he would walk out with his poodle and tell us what to do. His dream included a rattlesnake for the doors. I made one and he wanted it to have more texture so I sat down at my computer, looking up rattlesnake skin, then one crawled across my feet. The cat brought it in. I told Dr. Young and he was so thrilled. We have so many kind of hilarious anecdotes about that place, all very New Age.” For an ultra-expensive house, it tries not to jump in your face and pose as a mansion. Rather, says Bemis, it reflects the natural surroundings and “humble” nature of the owners, who are “so open and pure of soul” — and tried to carry the element of water flowing throughout the home, especially in the flooring. It’s overall color is a blue-hued gray, like water, he adds. Instead of taking the simple route and making floors of parallel strips, they undulate, like a stream, in and out of each other through the main rooms, a seemingly impossible feat of craftsmanship. How was it done? Carefully, says Bemis. Each piece was digitally shaped with CNC (Computer Numerical Control), using cherry, maple and other exotic woods of many colors. “Water is life. It’s the call of nature,” says Sulara. “It was all received as a vision. Our intent was to create beauty, grounded in nature and life. Genesis was given the vision (in shamanic journeys). We were not asking for the vision. We feel we were guided to build it in a specific way.” Even the most experienced craftsmen may wonder at shapes and feats you just do not see anywhere else — simple-looking baseboards that suddenly make 180-degree turns but with no cuts. Closer scrutiny shows them to be bent and bonded from numerous smaller strips. At a distance, you see glass following the many curves of this most non-linear home, but as you get closer, it’s obvious that most of the glass is curved. There’s a place in California that does this type of custom order. Here and there are a few off-the-shelf windows and lamps, but most of the house is wildly visionary, custom and hand-built, drawing the eye into enchanting puzzles in each room, as you ask yourself, “Now how on earth did they do this … and why?” Trees are honored, some of them actual manzanita branches taking part in a banister, while other limbs are shaped and hammered from copper sheeting. Two tiled dragons entwine, embedded above the fireplace mantel. The circular master bedroom looks out over rural Ashland-Talent, with the snow-capped Siskiyous and Coast Range on the south horizon. Mt. Shasta peeks out behind Pilot Rock. The cedar tongue-and-groove ceiling meets in a shallow cone of the ceiling, but not in the center. Everything is off-center, says Bemis, as in nature. On the walls, windows are wondrously cut in the shape of clouds and trees. The winding stairs to the upper bedrooms have myrtlewood steps seemingly balanced on a winding tree trunk, but the “trunk” is really bent and shaped from smaller pieces of wood. Shaped copper forms the handrails. The home is offered by Luxe Platinum Properties, whose agent, Kendra Ratcliff, says, “The entrance and first impression are magical. The woodwork is simply stunning and the craftsmanship is impeccable. I was in awe. I felt a sense of peacefulness, almost as if the inside and outside were in perfect unison.” The home is unique and personal in the extreme and, says Ratcliff, “Our buyer is the perfect person or persons for this magnificent home. That is a mystery which will unfold.” Genesis and Sulara created the nearby Circle of Teran Ranch, an $8 million residence and retreat center, which went through a lengthy and successful legal battle to be declared a church, then was auctioned in 2014 for $1.5 million to Doug Neuman, owner of Neuman Hotel Group, which includes the Ashland Springs Hotel. It has since been sold and become the Circle of Trust, a high-end drug and alcohol recovery center. John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected]. By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Apr. 10, 2016 at 6:35 PM Updated Apr 10, 2016 at 6:50 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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