Prolific Inventor’s Stunning Incline Village Estate Offered For Sale

Lake Tahoe, Nev. (July 3, 2009) – Like the impressive, water-loving raptor that inspires its name, the Osprey Estate, perched on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, is both rare and distinctive. This remarkable estate is offered exclusively by Chase International for $34 million.

The estate’s design genius is due in no small part to the owners -- a renowned inventor and his wife, an accomplished interior designer -- who collaborated with the architects in the creation of this lakeside masterpiece.

“Osprey, the Incline Village estate, is a hidden jewel in one of the nation’s most desirable places to live,” notes Shari Chase, president and CEO of Chase International. “Situated on two parcels that encompass eight acres, the estate is the epitome of understated elegance. With magnificent landscaping and a wide sandy beach, Osprey is the essence of privacy and serenity.”

Fine art connoisseurs, the owners sought to create museum-like interiors that showcase the family’s notable contemporary art collection. This artistic acumen resonates throughout the property where striking outdoor sculptures enhance a natural canvas resplendent with Lake Tahoe’s cobalt blue water and lush garden areas featuring pathways and inviting junctures for contemplation.

This creative vision is reflected throughout the estate that includes a main residence, guesthouse and conference center. The owners worked closely with architects Eric Thiele and Rod Ashley influencing the estate’s construction and contemporary design. Additionally, well-known Portland landscape architect Bob Murase clearly understood how to enhance and compliment the property’s natural topography.

The terrain gently slopes down to the water, leveling off at midpoint where the estate’s three separate structures all overlook Lake Tahoe. Flanking the main residence, two seasonal creeks offer a peaceful natural cadence as rushing water cascades over huge granite boulders.

The 7,100-square-foot main residence offers countless expansive windows and skylights that offer an abundance of natural light and stellar views of Lake Tahoe. Bathing the rooms in the delicate pink of a Lake Tahoe sunrise or the vibrant hues of sunset alpenglow on the Sierra, natural light is a featured performer in each and every structure on the Osprey property.

Reminiscent of a Frank Lloyd Wright residence with its exterior natural limestone and clean geometric lines, the home exudes an air of timeless elegance. The functional floor plan includes eight bedrooms, seven full baths and three half baths. The home is enhanced with classic contemporary touches such as white sycamore hardwood flooring, European and Indiana limestone throughout the kitchen and bathrooms, and custom Lord Adams VSoske rugs.

A spacious entertaining deck and an infinity-like indoor pool are both oriented toward the south to capture glorious Sierra vistas. Additionally, there is a radiant-heated outdoor stone patio located off the second floor living area. The main residence is surrounded by gardens and stately cedars that shield it from blustery winter weather and also provide shade and privacy during summer months.

Osprey is tucked back from the water, surrounded by mature trees, gardens and lovely pathways that meander across the two creeks and down to the lake, explains Kerry Donovan, Chase International broker and listing agent. Its a rare offering with uncommon terrain for Incline Village.

One such path leads to the propertys 1,000 square-foot guesthouse. This building is a study in rich mahogany and polished stone aggregate. Echoing the estates main residence, the guesthouse features walls of windows, which take in views of Lake Tahoe and the distinctive sculpture garden.

Almost symmetrical to the guesthouse, the conference center is reached by a meditative mahogany plank, aspen-lined walkway. This route takes one past the estates sculpture garden and a sculpture fountain. This executive meeting space features a boardroom, kitchen and full bath, which are complimented by the estates signature lake views and abundant natural light. Talented architect Rod Ashley is responsible for the design of both the guesthouse and the conference center.

"This estate captures ones inner spirit! It is not very often you feel that a property has it all – and, Osprey has it all." Shari Chase adds.

For more information or to arrange a private viewing of the property, contact Shari Chase, 866. 233.7111 or Kerry Donovan 866.831.8999,
kdonovan@chaseinternational.com.

Osprey in the News

Hot property: guest houses

Original Article from and all credits and rights to Financial Times - FT.com
Emma Mahony, FT.com, July 1, 2011

As Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the US, observed: "Fish and visitors smell in three days." One way round the problem is to have separate guest accommodation. And if you can offer entertainment in the way of tennis, golf or a boat on site, then hosting at a second home need not be a chore. Below, we offer five of the best houses with guest accommodation.

Osprey Estate, Incline Village, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, US

Where: An exclusive enclave on the eastern North Shore of Lake Tahoe, which borders California and Nevada, and is the largest of the Alpine Lakes in North America, 200 miles east of San Francisco.
What: Designed by architect Roderick Ashley, this eight-acre estate has 690ft of water frontage and an eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom home, with 7,100 sq ft of living space and a guest house and studio/library. Commissioned by the late US inventor Jerome Lemelson, the estate has large entertaining areas and an indoor infinity pool facing the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Why: The guest house and library are linked by a boardwalk. Both pavilions have marble floors, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the sculpture garden and lake. There is skiing in winter, sailing and scuba diving in summer.
Who: Chase International, www.chaseinternational.com, tel: +44 (0)20 7467 5330

Read the full article with at FT.com

Tucked Away in Tahoe

Original Article from and all credits and rights to The Wall Street Journal Online
Sushil Cheema, The Wall Street Journal, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
Photos by Eric Jarvis

Built by an inventor and his wife, the 'Osprey Estate' features 690 feet of frontage on Lake Tahoe, a guesthouse and conference center. Known as "Osprey Estate," the home, located in Incline Village, measures about 7,100 square feet. The home has eight bedrooms, including the master bedroom. It also has seven full bathrooms and three half bathrooms. The study is adjacent to the master suite (seen in image to the right).

Read the full article with 13 part slideshow at the Wall Street Journal Online

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A Natural Dialogue

On Lake Tahoe, a Modern Guesthouse and Library Strike a Balance with Their Setting

Architecture by Roderick Ashley, AIA/Landscape Architecture by Murase Associates Text by Therese Bissell/Photography by Mary E. Nichols Published October 2009

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency imposes uncommonly stringent environmental and design restrictions on new construction—a fact that has contributed to the preservation of one of the country’s marquee lake districts and to no small degree of hand-wringing among architects. Roderick Ashley, for one, was told that the modest bipartite building he envisioned for an Incline Village, Nevada, lakefront site would take at least a year and most likely several trips back to the drawing board to gain approval.

But that didn’t happen. “We sailed right through,” says Ashley, a principal of TVA Architects in Portland, Oregon, “because, while the design is so non-Tahoe, the construction so non-Tahoe, the scale is right. Our intention was right. We weren’t pushing the boundaries or asking for concessions—we took a minimal approach in differentiating the building from the landscape, which in the end is what everyone wants to protect.”

A retreat consisting of two mirror-image structures housing a guest residence and a studio/library, and mediated by a graveled sculpture garden, the project was commissioned by a philanthropist to honor her late husband. An “inward” composition of 4,500 square feet of enclosed space designed to foster thought and reflection (“The conversation,” Ashley says, “is back and forth between the two buildings”), it nevertheless embraces its forested site and the fabled Sierra Nevada-ringed, cobalt-blue lake it overlooks.

The north shore is a high-premium alpine region where steel-and-concrete construction is an anomaly, as are flat roofs (even though the snow load is less than in other parts of the area). Barely visible from the water or the street, the small compound exists as Lake Tahoe’s secret pocket of modernism—a combination of rigor, understatement and transparency that might well have been a model for this climate had modern technology and sensibilities been factors in past eras.

The two buildings are primarily board-formed (a nod to rusticity), poured-in-place concrete, which appears as an extension of the decomposed-granite soil. Mahogany siding clads the nonbearing walls. Roofs are mahogany-and-steel-faced concrete slabs supported by exposed-steel columns on the interior and a single steel column at each exterior (echoing the verticality of the pines). Floor-to-ceiling glass walls establish the overall, and defining, indoor-outdoor character.

Essentially one room for entertaining and sleeping—with custom furnishings designed by the owner—the guest residence contains as well a kitchen, a bath and a walk-in closet/dressing area. Completing the plan are a garage and storage for groundskeeping equipment. A Howard Hodgkin monotype commands the main living space as it visually balances, when seen from the graveled garden, the similarly scaled artworks outside. Continued... Read the rest of this article at ArchitecturalDigest.com

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The Osprey Estate gets national attention

Original Article from and all credits and rights to Staff report • October 6, 2009, The Reno Gazette Journal

One of Lake Tahoe's few modern luxury lakefront homes received national attention recently when it was featured in both the Wall Street Journal and Architectural Digest. The Osprey Estate, located on the shores of Lake Tahoe in Incline Village, is on the market with Chase International for $34 million.

Architectural Digest described how the 71,000-square-foot contemporary home with guesthouse and library strikes a balance with the pristine surroundings. The estate's design comes from its owners -- a renowned inventor and his wife, an accomplished interior designer -- who collaborated with architects Eric Thiele and Roderick Ashley in designing the home. The landscape architecture was one of the last projects designed by the late Robert Murase, a noted Portland, Ore., landscape architect.

With a flat roof, floor-to-ceiling windows, an abundance of natural light and striking outdoor sculptures, the October issue of Architectural Digest noted that the home was a "smart, simple building, so light on the land and rich in contextual detail."

"Barely visible from the water or the street, the small compound exists as Lake Tahoe's secret pocket of modernism -- a combination of rigor, understatement and transparency that might well have been a model for this climate had modern technology and sensibilities been factors in past eras."

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Read the full article at the Reno Gazette Journal
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