Gold in the Hills
A handcrafted, solar-powered home in the Sierra Nevada foothills serves many purposes. Enchanting and inspiring visitors is just the beginning.
May/June 2006
By Robyn Griggs Lawrence
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Wildflowers on the hillside provide a colorful, low groundcover around the solar panels that provide hot water for the radiant heating system. The dining room, in the westerly wing, faces toward the Yuba River.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BARBARA BOURNE
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Michael Funk’s 1,200 acres along the Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada foothills above Nevada City, California, are nothing short of magical. Anyone lucky enough to spend time on this land can’t help but leave rejuvenated and inspired; the majestic waterfalls, dramatic gorges and fairy-tale woodlands seep inside and become a little part of you. You leave with a renewed reverence for nature’s magnificence, a refreshed commitment to preserve endangered places such as this.
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That’s just how Michael planned it.
Michael had two primary intentions when he acquired his land: to maintain the area’s pristine nature and to share it with others. He envisioned a refuge, permanently protected from the development that’s sweeping up many of the river valleys and gorges around Nevada City, a Victorian gold-mining town now swarming with retirees and real-estate speculators. He also dreamed of creating a retreat for his business associates and members of the environmental groups in which he’s active. So when it came time to build his home on this land—after six months of breaking trails and scaling its creek gorges—Michael asked architect Jeff Gold to build something grand enough to meet these needs and match the setting, but humble enough to know its place.
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