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Inside a California Home Made From the Mountain It Stands On
Architectural Digest
Follow
4/29/2025
Today Architectural Digest visits a masterful example of Ken Kellogg's organic architecture nestled in the mountains northeast of San Diego, California, The Bailey House.
© J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
Category
🛠️
Lifestyle
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
I think you can apply the word genius.
00:11
I think anyone that looks at the different spaces that Ken has created
00:15
sees that they are wonderful, incredible spaces,
00:18
but he also understood people and how they move in a space
00:22
and what stimulates them and what can add to their life
00:26
from their experience with nature.
00:30
These ideas welled up within him.
00:33
They were an intuitive response to the opportunities that he had,
00:38
to the land and the water and the air.
00:43
My name is Dave Hampton.
00:45
I'm a local San Diegan,
00:48
and I'm an author of a book called San Diego's Craft Revolution
00:52
and an independent curator.
01:00
Dr. and Mrs. Joe Bailey are responsible for the Bailey House,
01:04
which is northeast of San Diego in the sort of back country.
01:09
He bought raw land in 1972.
01:14
Eventually, he and Barbara Bailey together decided to work with Ken Kellogg.
01:20
Ken had a lot of appeal because he's one of the few native-born San Diegans
01:28
to develop a practice here that was informed by mid-century modern ideas.
01:36
Ken also had a handcraft element to his work
01:40
and a sculptural element to his work.
01:43
Ken Kellogg's architecture had a kind of a roughness
01:48
and a kind of a sun and surf sensibility
01:51
that there was something about his growing up next to the Pacific Ocean,
01:55
but also having the mountains just 10 or 20 minutes away
01:59
that helped him to come up with his own signature organic architecture.
02:03
So Steve Bailey and I are at the front door of his family home,
02:13
the Bailey House,
02:14
and the door is an important feature of the artist John Vugren.
02:20
John Vugren also worked with Ken on the Kellogg-Doolittle house.
02:25
It's on a pin system. It's a custom door.
02:27
A locksmith guy just came out to help us with stuff two weeks ago,
02:30
and he was like, this is all commercial hardware. It's super rare.
02:33
And you can see how the door is built out sculpturally,
02:39
so it's dimensional with this curve,
02:41
and it's built using laminated individual strips of wood.
02:47
The client started out wanting a functional ranch house
02:51
that the owner could build himself with their ranch hands.
02:55
But what Ken is inspired to come up with
03:01
is a really wild, wonderful, complicated design.
03:08
Mr. Bailey apparently took this on as a challenge
03:11
and built the house himself
03:13
with helpers, with ranch hands,
03:16
and a number of different carpenters,
03:18
most of whom were referred by Ken.
03:21
And they do Ken's designs perfectly,
03:24
but the house took a really long time to build.
03:28
The rock, when you see the rock work in this house,
03:32
it's just amazing.
03:34
And it was quarried on the site
03:36
from down below this hilltop.
03:41
I think my dad spent a lot of time
03:43
running the cement mixer for this
03:45
because he said he lost a lot of his hearing.
03:48
It's like layer by layer, stack by stack,
03:50
of all these rocks.
03:53
Just inside the front door
03:55
is a key kind of junction of the whole house
03:59
where its two wings meet up.
04:02
There's a gap between them that you walk into.
04:06
One side has a bedroom.
04:08
The other side has the living areas,
04:10
the kitchen and the living room
04:12
and the fireplace and so forth.
04:17
What I see a lot in the Bailey house
04:20
is a maturation
04:22
and a kind of a controlling
04:24
of this language
04:26
that Ken had developed
04:27
in many, many other houses.
04:29
So he's got the circular spaces,
04:32
he's got the stonework,
04:34
he's got the dramatic dynamic curves
04:36
of the roof and the balconies,
04:38
he's got all the glass,
04:39
he's got all these handmade elements.
04:45
One of the qualities
04:46
of Kellogg's version
04:48
of organic architecture
04:50
is a deliberate blurring
04:52
of the conventional division
04:54
between the exterior
04:56
and the interior.
04:57
And so the idea
04:58
that you have your finished
05:00
interior cabinetry
05:01
penetrating the exterior space
05:04
is unusual
05:05
and blurs that distinction
05:07
between interior and exterior.
05:09
But it's a little bit of a struggle
05:11
because part of it's outside
05:12
and getting hit by the elements.
05:15
It is very difficult
05:16
to maintain outside.
05:18
It gets slammed by rain,
05:19
wind, heat.
05:21
We sand and restain it
05:22
at least every year.
05:25
A couple of things
05:27
about the kitchen
05:28
that I think are noteworthy
05:29
are that it's really
05:30
the center point
05:31
for all of the structure
05:33
of the house
05:34
that you see.
05:35
And here is where
05:36
all these massive laminated beams
05:39
supported on the utility poles,
05:41
they all come together
05:42
in this space.
05:44
If you're out in this room,
05:46
all these points above you
05:48
lead you here.
05:49
And then it's echoed
05:50
by the built-in table.
05:53
Other feature
05:54
that comes to mind
05:55
with this kitchen
05:56
is the skylight.
05:57
It's pretty rad.
05:58
My brother and I
05:59
rode our skateboards
06:00
in this thing
06:01
when it was standing up
06:02
vertically and delivered
06:03
out on the garage.
06:04
That was a cool memory
06:05
that I have of the house.
06:06
Definitely.
06:08
As the more clean look
06:11
of woodworking
06:12
that we associate
06:13
with the 40s and 50s
06:15
in modern furniture design
06:16
evolved,
06:18
they started to talk
06:20
about something called
06:21
the California Roundover
06:22
where cabinets
06:24
and pieces of furniture
06:26
had a kind of a curve.
06:28
But here it's put
06:29
into the kitchen,
06:30
into a more utilitarian environment
06:32
and it's floated
06:34
off the ground.
06:35
So everything has space
06:37
around it.
06:38
so they become
06:39
these discreet,
06:40
three-dimensional,
06:41
very sculptural elements.
06:49
There's this idea
06:51
that's associated
06:52
with Frank Lloyd Wright,
06:53
the idea of a big,
06:55
hardy fireplace
06:56
being the center
06:57
of the home.
06:59
And what you see
07:00
from Ken throughout
07:01
his career
07:02
is a development
07:04
of this fireplace
07:05
as a key attraction
07:07
and sculptural element,
07:09
a kind of a focal point
07:10
of the living room.
07:12
But he's also highlighting
07:15
the sculptural form.
07:17
There are gaps
07:18
all around the shape
07:19
of the fireplace
07:20
so that it's
07:20
completely freestanding.
07:23
The glass pierces the rock
07:25
and the fireplace
07:27
goes outside and inside
07:29
at the same time
07:31
and it has these
07:32
wonderful floating
07:33
hearth
07:34
of cast concrete.
07:36
It's a way
07:37
of distinguishing
07:38
one material,
07:40
one surface,
07:40
from another.
07:41
So this big mass
07:43
that you see
07:44
with this geometry
07:45
to it
07:46
in plan view
07:47
continues down
07:49
into the floor
07:50
beneath us
07:51
creating these
07:52
warm walls
07:53
for two bedrooms
07:55
downstairs.
07:59
The house
08:00
is really
08:01
integrated
08:01
to the mountaintop site.
08:03
Part of it
08:04
is subterranean
08:05
and it's down
08:05
in the earth itself
08:07
and so it's
08:08
a perfect example
08:09
of a house
08:09
that grows
08:10
of the hill.
08:12
You also feel,
08:13
at least I feel
08:14
a little bit,
08:15
like I'm looking
08:16
out the opening
08:17
of a cave.
08:19
So even though
08:19
the glass
08:20
and the windows
08:20
are high,
08:21
he also does
08:22
this thing
08:23
of creating
08:24
a line
08:25
that gives you
08:28
a sense
08:28
of a lowering
08:29
of the space.
08:30
He's really
08:31
called attention
08:32
to it
08:32
with giving it
08:33
a different stain,
08:34
a contrasting stain.
08:36
This is such a cliche
08:38
but it is like
08:39
being inside
08:40
a sculpture.
08:43
This is the
08:45
primary bedroom.
08:48
This wing
08:49
has a lot
08:50
of same elements
08:51
that the other wing
08:52
does.
08:53
It has its own
08:54
fireplace
08:54
but also
08:55
it has the same
08:57
sort of gap
08:58
in the ceiling
08:59
that leads
09:00
your eye
09:01
to the central
09:02
skylight
09:03
or oculus
09:04
and beneath
09:06
the skylight
09:07
is another
09:07
round enclosure
09:09
where there's
09:09
a dressing area,
09:11
closets,
09:12
bathroom,
09:13
etc.
09:13
The headboard
09:14
and the built-in
09:15
night tables
09:16
and shelving
09:17
is something
09:18
that shows
09:19
Ken's preference
09:21
for woodworkers
09:22
to be able
09:23
to design
09:23
these very
09:24
aesthetically
09:25
pleasing elements.
09:27
He talked
09:28
about a kind
09:29
of an honesty
09:30
in use
09:30
of materials
09:31
and so
09:32
here he's
09:33
showing you
09:33
exactly how
09:34
it's constructed
09:35
and taking
09:36
the construction
09:37
process
09:38
and the structure
09:39
itself,
09:39
all the elements
09:40
and going
09:41
this is an element
09:42
that I want you
09:43
to see
09:43
of how everything
09:44
is put together
09:45
and wherever
09:46
you see them
09:47
they create
09:48
a kind of
09:48
visual rhythm
09:49
that creates
09:50
another part
09:50
of the visual
09:51
experience.
09:53
Ken really
09:54
thought that
09:54
people should
09:55
use glass
09:56
in a much
09:57
more free way
09:58
and I think
10:00
that Ken
10:01
would use
10:01
the glass
10:02
in a joyful
10:04
way to create
10:05
a lively
10:06
momentum
10:07
and visual
10:08
lines
10:09
but it also
10:10
served to
10:11
separate
10:11
every single
10:12
structural element
10:13
that you see
10:14
and you get
10:15
this fascination
10:17
with the
10:18
free
10:19
interpenetration
10:20
of interior
10:21
and exterior
10:22
space
10:22
that the
10:23
glass allows
10:23
for.
10:32
We've got
10:33
the circular
10:33
patterns
10:34
all around
10:35
and most
10:37
obviously
10:38
the mirror
10:38
with this
10:40
killer lighting
10:41
above it.
10:43
When you walk
10:43
in and you
10:44
shift around
10:45
it does kind
10:46
of an optical
10:46
interesting play
10:48
where there's
10:48
another door
10:49
door and
10:50
it's like
10:51
is it all
10:51
cabinets?
10:52
Is it a
10:52
one-way
10:52
entrance?
10:53
No, it's
10:53
two.
10:54
It's kind
10:55
of neat.
10:55
This relates
10:57
to the bathroom
10:58
design in the
10:59
Doolittle
10:59
house where
11:01
John Vogrin
11:02
did a very
11:02
elaborate
11:03
version of
11:04
this very
11:05
same central
11:06
structure.
11:07
One of the
11:07
kind of neat
11:08
things about
11:09
Kellogg is that
11:10
although he
11:11
really cherished
11:12
this idea of
11:13
taking every
11:14
client, every
11:15
job, every
11:15
site and
11:16
allowing it
11:17
to dictate
11:18
a brand
11:19
new approach,
11:20
he still
11:20
had a sort
11:21
of familiar
11:22
bag of
11:23
tricks that
11:23
he would
11:24
pull out.
11:29
These shapes,
11:31
these buildings
11:32
that he created,
11:33
so distinctive,
11:35
so wonderful.
11:37
If he was
11:38
taking in the
11:39
information of
11:40
what other
11:41
architects built,
11:42
he took it in
11:43
at a kind of
11:43
peripheral level
11:44
and he mixed
11:45
it up and
11:46
he created
11:47
something super
11:48
unique and
11:49
wonderful.
11:50
That's how I
11:51
think he was
11:51
a true artist
11:52
because that
11:53
stuff seemed
11:54
to have come
11:54
intuitively.
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