Gallery

In 1952, Fred Roberts and his wife Florence bought a building site in Solstice Canyon and had Paul R. Williams design a home for them that would blend naturally into the canyon's environment of waterfalls, springs and trees. The house, built of stone, brick, and wood, was a perfect architectural fit. This interior photograph by Julius Shulman illustrates an important Williams' architectural feature, the incorporation of the outside as an intergral part of the design. 

Though Fred Roberts insisted that Williams include an elaborate fire protection system for their home and build using only fire resistant materials, the house would eventually burn. Built on the same site  where other houses had been destroyed by fire, all of Williams' carefully thought out system of pumps, pipes, and water collecting pools could only put off the inevitable. The fall wildfires that frequently burn through the canyon to the ocean would destroy the Roberts' home in 1982. 

Solstice Canyon along with the remains of the Roberts Ranch homesite became a public park in 1988 managed by the National Park Service. Traces of the Williams' designed landscape, fish pond and the grassy area overlooking the creek remain, looking like a "life-sized blueprint" of the original home. (National Park Service. Soltice Canyon) Serene and beautiful the area is a favorite circuit for hikers.