The canyons of Mission Hills, one of San Diego's most sought-after neighbourhoods, are home to the Bone Residence, one of Southern California's finest expressions of midcentury modern architecture. Commissioned to architect Richard Lareau by Jack Bone and completed in 1961, the residence is a symphony of warm cedar, glass walls and indoor-outdoor living. It is now on the market for $2.59 million.
The home embodies the philosophy that defined Lareau's career: that a house should do more than occupy its setting – it should engage with it. At the Bone Residence, a cascading series of decks and patios steps down the canyon, framing views of the downtown skyline, San Diego Bay, the Pacific Ocean and even Tijuana to the south. Inside, nearly every living space looks towards the canyon and the city beyond, while the post-and-beam structure – a hallmark of midcentury modern design – creates open, light-filled interiors.
The house also showcases many of the defining characteristics of California modernism: exposed structural framing that celebrates the building's construction, broad roof overhangs, strong horizontal lines and a restrained palette of natural materials, including timber and masonry.
Lareau is one of the architects most responsible for shaping San Diego's post-war identity. Completed only a few years after he established his own practice in the late 1950s, the Bone Residence helped define that architectural language, and is widely regarded as one of the finest-preserved examples of his work. Lareau would go on to design numerous custom homes throughout San Diego, as well as major institutional projects including much of the campus of Point Loma Nazarene University and the Mission Bay Visitor Center.
Although less celebrated than some of Lareau's later commissions, the Bone Residence remains one of the defining works of his early career and a landmark of San Diego's architectural identity. It distils the qualities that came to define California modernism: expressive yet lightweight structure, an effortless openness to nature and an architectural approach that treats dramatic topography not as a constraint, but as the foundation of the living experience.
The Bone Residence is listed with Keith York at Agents of Architecture.