Give Lorton Mitchell a blank piece of paper and a piece of land and watch him go to work. The longtime Coronado builder and third-generation Coronadan has been creating beautiful homes here since 1983. He also just gave Coronado a special honor–a gold medal.
Lorton Mitchell Custom Homes received special accolades by winning the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification for Bella Vista, their latest project at 701 First St. This is Coronado’s first Gold LEED Certification for a home and speaks volumes about the contractor’s dedication to protecting Coronado’s landscape.
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system. Achieving LEED recognition is not easy. It involves extreme effort on behalf of the architects, designers and builders from conception to completion. It adds time and expense to a project, but the end result radiates from the intense preparations that go into it.
A LEED winner must focus on energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impact on the surrounding homes and area.
The architectural visionary for Bella Vista was Coronado’s Dorothy Howard, who worked hard to add a level of detail typically reserved for the highest examples of Spanish Revival architecture.
The interior design team of Stephanie Davis and Mark Pugh (Davis-Pugh Inc.) made sure nothing inside the house competed with or distracted from the rare, seaside view the location presented.
“Lots of thought went into this,” said Mitchell. “Big houses are at a disadvantage for LEED presentations right off, so we knew going in that we had our work cut out for us. Still, we did this because it was the right thing to do. Our whole criterion was based on achieving this end result. We’re very pleased.”
When driving by Bella Vista, it’s not readily apparent what treasures lie within those unpretentious Spanish-styled walls. “We intentionally wanted to blend into the neighboring community no matter how difficult the challenge,” said Mitchell. “It would have been easy to create a grand palace with large, heavy doors and a massive presence. Certainly the size of the property could have sustained such a palace.”
Indeed, it took real sensitivity to walk through a vacant lot and see so ambitious a goal–a home that consisted of understated elegance and cutting-edge green technology, the likes of which Coronado has never seen.
Energy efficient and environmentally sensitive features include heated floors, hidden photovoltaic and hot water solar panels on the roof. Twelve individual zones throughout the home allow for you to heat or cool each room independent of the others to suit the occupant’s comfort level.
Bella Vista probably has the most sophisticated heating and cooling system in Coronado, but the irony is that the home is so well oriented and insulated that you would seldom need to employ it, said Mitchell.
The area in and around 701 First St. has had quite a history. Two hit TV series were filmed on this stretch of beach–Harry O with David Janssen and Coronado 9 with Rod Cameron.
Large car-carrying ferryboats plied the waters in Bella Vista’s front yard from 1886 through 1969. Before that, pioneer aviator Glen Curtiss landed his airplane on that stretch of dirt, and before that, Kumeyaay Indians foraged for food along these banks.
The history of this stretch of bayside beach was not lost on Mitchell. He grew up just two blocks away. “I designed and built my first boat on this beach when I was 11,” he said with a twinge of irony.
Most days, as the twilight hues engulf San Diego Bay, Mitchell can be found on his large paddleboard maneuvering along the waters just off Bella Vista, admiring his handiwork and appropriately feeling a larger part of that history.
Bella Vista is featured on the cover of this month’s San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine, a major prize unto itself. The article, by veteran journalist David Coddon, starts out, “Coronado’s Bella Vista manse is architecturally supreme, responsibly green and a sight to be seen.”
The home is unpretentious, yet unbridled elegance. Of the roughly 38 lots on this bay side of First Street, Bella Vista is one of the few homes where bay and street lots are combined. “Someone rich and famous could live here and no one would know,” said Mitchell.
Bella Vista measures just over 9,000 square feet and boasts seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms within its walls. This includes a two-bedroom, two-bath casita in the rear and an enclosed garage that can house up to eight cars. An oversized turntable (designed by Coronadans Bill Gise and Jim Newhall) allows cars to be moved around like Tonka Toys.
There is a separate prep-kitchen and an elegant wine vault, both of which lend the house to large parties and fundraisers. Spacious rooms and patios seemingly beg to host major events. Clearly comfort was a top priority with the design team.
Walking through the house you are immediately struck by the natural lighting, the windows looking out on to San Diego Bay, the vaulted, exposed beam ceilings and adherence to the lovely arches used so predominantly in construction of the early Spanish missions.
The entire home gently steps down to the water to avoid a heavy presence, and offers a breathtaking 180-degree view that takes in San Diego Bay from the Coronado Bridge north to Point Loma.
Mitchell’s previous projects have demonstrated a wide variety ranging from quaint alley homes to large estates along the golf course. For years he has held a fascination with Santa Barbara Spanish-style homes, which is romantically evident in this latest project.
“Over the years I’ve seen many homes that literally die after 30 years. They were built in haste, and without a lot of concern about what materials or techniques were employed,” said the popular builder.
“Seeing that makes me want to build homes that will last, that will enhance the property and the neighborhood, that will stand the test of time. I fully expect our homes to last 100 years or more,” said Mitchell.
Bella Vista, the waterfront home at 701 First St., took 16 careful months to create. It is currently on the market. Lorton Mitchell Custom Homes has more than 100 completed projects in Coronado. For more information call 619-435-3446 or visit their website atwww.lortonmitchellhomes.com.
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