Another property owned by WeWork’s co-founder and former CEO is on the market. This time Adam Neumann has listed his seven bedroom, 14-bath home for $27.5 million almost two years after he purchased the property for $21.4 million (it had been listed for $25 million). Set on nearly 11 acres in Marin County, the entire estate is designed for off-grid living with solar panels, geo-thermal heating, a private water well, orchard, large garden and facilities for keeping chickens and bees. The 10,000-square foot main house is also known as the “Guitar House” since the living room is in the shape of a guitar—as per the wishes of prior owner, data communications magnate Michael Klein, who was a big music fan. In the wake of departing from WeWork (and a recent snub by major WeWork investor Softbank) Neumann is trying to shed more of his real estate portfolio. In February of this year Neumann listed his New York triplex for $37.5 million which continues to be on the market at the same asking price.
This California getaway, about ten minutes from the city of San Francisco, uses rammed earth construction to provide a modern take on adobe and Mission style architecture. Klein, an avid environmentalist, wanted the house to use only reclaimed wood and as little cement as possible. He hired eco-architect Sim Van der Ryn to construct the home which ended up taking five years to complete.
You can get a better feel for the home if you look at it from the back first.
Here is the custom-built music studio which also has a wall-sized movie screen (on the wall just out of frame on the left edge of the picture). Prior to this house being built, in 2002, the existing house had belonged to music producer Bill Graham, who is often credited with being the man who helped The Grateful Dead have such early success (it helped that Graham owned two prominent San Francisco music venues—The Fillmore and Winterland Arena). When Klein, also a huge fan of the same band, purchased the property he had Graham’s house torn down but included in his design wishes that Van der Ryn appeal to a ‘deadhead’ decor theme.
Here is the front of the property, which shows how it is designed to let in as much natural light as possible.
Indoors the kitchen has a massive island with chef-grade appliances. In the foreground of the photo you can see the individual drawers for holding grains and spices.
Here’s the living room/eating area to the side of the kitchen.
A main living room shows off more of the interior columns and the room divider in a subtle mission style decor.
The layout of the main part of the house is oriented to have lengthy exposures to the back of the property, which results in an elongated walkway. This shows a close-up of the of the columns and the striated shades of desert tones.
An entertaining area has a full-size bar and casual seating area near the fireplace.
The main bedroom has private access to the patio plus a fireplace.
Attached to the main bedroom is this bathroom with cabinets designed to wrap around the curved wall.
A view of the property from above shows the two-story slide that leads to the pool. You can also see the roof of the pool house.
The estate also comes with a guest house, pool cabana, tennis court, detached workout studio and regulation racquetball court. For more information see the listing page with Joshua Deitch of Compass.