Design
Castle in the Sand
Castello della Costa D’Oro ushers in a new era of opulence on California’s Gold Coast. By Regina Cole
When international real estate tycoon Khosro Khaloghli gave a tour of his new Cambria, California home to developer Igor Olenicoff, his usually voluble friend was nearly dumbstruck.
Finally, he said, “It seems to rival Hearst Castle in opulence.”
If a well-known estate built along this same coast by an earlier mogul comes to the minds of the fortunate guests touring Castello della Costa d’Oro, blame it on the scale and grandeur of Khaloghli’s new home, 14 years in the making.
“An estate of this magnitude will probably never again be built in California,” says architect Stephen R. Sutherland of San Francisco’s Architectural Collection. To begin, consider the setting: 80 acres along a glorious section of California coast. Mountains tumble down to the Pacific Ocean, rich with Monterey Pine, open meadows, and streams. Offshore, whales pass, sea lions bask, and otters play in the shallows. Just inland is Paso Robles wine country, but from here, the orientation is towards the sea.
“I find the ocean so awe-inspiring and emotionally charged that I felt an obligation to create an estate that would hold its own visually and viscerally,” Khaloghli says. He admits that finding the site was the first, and perhaps biggest, challenge of his decade-and-a-half creative process.
“Usable acreage with direct Highway One access is as rare as hen’s teeth in California,” he laughs. “We were lucky to find this spectacular parcel,” he says of the property. As time went on, Khaloghli kept discovering just how lucky he was. The land borders state park property to the north and east and one can see the Piedre Blancas lighthouse to the north, with the Hearst Castle on the horizon. Offshore, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects a huge variety of marine life. The setting is a natural environment that feels as wild and abundant as California must have felt to the first settlers.
If only with its statistics, Khaloghli’s estate rises to the lofty standards of the location: a 35,000 square-foot compound that includes—in addition to the luxurious residence of Khaloghli and his wife, Haruka—a helipad, guest house, caretaker’s house, administration building, observation tower with its own penthouse apartment, and an automotive pavilion housing 30 selections from Khaloghli’s car and motorcycle collection, as well as space for visiting helicopters.
The house itself was informed by the architectural teachings of Andrea Palladio and inspired by the confident tastes of the Venetian aristocracy. “I’ve built many homes,” says Khaloghli, who emigrated to the United States from Iran in the late 1960s. “But it was always my dream to build a castle with the confident power and scale of Roman architecture combined with the lyrical beauty of the high Renaissance.”
Castello della Costa d’Oro’s grand entrance is a Greek temple with solid verde onyx and flanked by onyx and marble columns. A classic Venetian reference is the granite Lion of St. Mark standing on the roof above the entrance doors.
“Palladio used elements previously seen only in religious or public buildings in order to elevate the ordinary to the sublime,” says Khaloghli. “Here we followed his lead with an exterior whose scale is massive and powerful.”
The two wings of Castello della Costa d’Oro extend out from the grand ballroom at a slight angle, visually embracing the terrace that runs along the rear exposure and opening the rooms to the ocean and forest views to the south. “Almost all the design features are symmetric,” points out the justly proud homeowner. “For me, that symmetry is essential to an atmosphere of beauty and equilibrium.”
The interior, while vast, feels harmonious. Window bays protrude from most rooms, providing not only panoramic views, but also a connection to the exterior of the home. “This avoids the uncomfortable feeling of being a mouse lost in a maze that can sometimes happen in larger homes,” says Khaloghli. The round window bays also provided the homeowners with the opportunity to build 12 classical mural domes.
Khaloghli says that traditional Venetian country villas weren’t used in the winter meaning that the owners could forgo the expensive tapestries that covered the masonry walls in their city palaces. In the interests of economy, they hired muralists to paint trompe l’oeil tapestries and architectural elements throughout their villas. Of course, these frescos are now beloved historical art treasures by some of the most brilliant artists of their time. “I considered the wall murals, ceiling murals and painted domes to be an essential element of my romantic Palladian villa,” he says. “The artists spent years painting them directly to surface, in the time-honored fashion. These murals have added immeasurably to our enjoyment of the estate.”
The interior design is classical Italian; there are no jarring transitions from room to room. Yet individuality abounds, as in the flowing, organically shaped lighting fixtures that serve as counterpoints to the formality of marble flooring and columns.
“Haruka and I have a studio art glass collection,” Khaloghli says. “Though it contains some pieces that are quite modern in design, it still works well, tying in with the colorful Murano chandeliers. The Venetians loved color and merriment,” he continues. “They had a festive spirit and were exceptionally fond of artistic ornamentation. We’ve sought to invoke their zest for life and passion for beauty as much as possible.”
When the Khaloghlis venture outdoors, they find beauty in all directions. They often saddle up their Quarter Horses and take guests out for a ride around the estate perimeter. “Riding through the deep grass down by the creek is Haruka’s favorite,” says Khosro. “It’s so quiet in there under the trees. The sunlight slants in and lights up everything a brilliant shade of green. Every little bird sounds like it’s singing in a cathedral.”
The only thing better than enjoying their home, say the Khaloghlis, is to share it. “Haruka and I believe that to share a pleasure is to magnify it tenfold,” Khosro says. They explain that their cultural backgrounds place a high value on the art of hospitality, so the castle was designed with a variety of spaces suitable for entertaining, from a grand scale to an intimate one. Dinner might be served out on the castle’s main terrace which features an outdoor kitchen with a wood-fired pizza oven, wine refrigeration, and a beer tap, where eating by fireplace and watching the sunset over the vineyard is not unheard of.
“We love to see the surprise on our friends’ faces when we fire up the flames in the big bronze urns,” they laugh. “By day, they’re landscaping accents along the meandering pathways. By night, they’re dramatic and elemental.”
When the couple celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary, along with the completion of Castello della Costa d’Oro, guests included Hollywood celebrity photographer Kal Yee; Emmy-nominated composer Jamie Dunlap; master winemaker Marcello Monticelli of Gallo Vineyards; author and political scientist Dr. Ron Rahnavardi; and Davis Crowder, former US Secretary of Commerce. The glittering evening foretold of golden days to come.
“Could we have built this estate in some inland location, away from the ocean? Yes, much more easily,” Khaloghli admits. “Would we have? Never. The magnificent, powerful ocean was always a central part of the dream.”
Indeed, Castello della Costa d’Oro lives up to the name bestowed by its owners: “America’s newest castle.”
That is the finest home I have ever seen on the ocean in California. Congratulations and thanks to Mr. Khaloghli for 14 years of dedication to excellence in providing an enduring true work of art. I hope they enjoy it for many years.