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Carmel Oceanfront Home With Barrel-Vaulted Ceilings Asks $14.5M

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With views of Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.

By Megan Barber
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An interior view of a living room in a Carmel house for sale with a barrel vaulted wood ceiling and ocean views. There is a couch and other chairs. Wayne Capili of Interface Visual
Price: $14,500,000
Location: Carmel, California

Perched above a sandy stretch of Carmel Bay on the Monterey Peninsula, 2645 Ribera Road sits on one of the winding blocks that make up this small oceanfront neighborhood. The property is just a few steps down a hill to Ribera Beach and the Carmel Meadows trail. Leaving the neighborhood, a ten-minute drive north takes you to the fairy-tale-like Carmel-by-the-Sea downtown, packed with art galleries, wine tasting rooms, and European-inspired bistros like La Bicyclette. Heading south, the nearby Point Lobos State Natural Reserve (where you can spy seals, seal lions, birds, and tide pools) is a gateway to Big Sur’s dramatic coastline and endless outdoor recreation.

Specs: 4 beds, 4.5 baths, 8,237 square feet, 0.36 acres

At first glance, this home, designed by architect Daniel Piechota, looks like a sleek but discreet bunker, with long horizontal lines running across a three-car garage covered by a sod roof. Made from poured concrete and built into the hillside in 2000, it’s one of Piechota’s many residential designs that seek to blend unobtrusively into the landscape. But once inside, everything feels lighter and a lot more dramatic, starting with a two-story concrete entry staircase and a great room with double-height windows framing panoramic ocean views of Point Lobos. The open-concept living and dining areas both have gas fireplaces and sliding doors to a patio, and the kitchen features double black granite islands. The master bedroom, with sliding screen doors for privacy, is located just off the main living spaces, while the lower level offers another family room, theater, laundry, and three guest suites with bathrooms and access to a lower patio.

Notable feature: Barrel-vaulted ceilings

There are five barrel-vaulted ceilings in the home, all made from vertical-grain Alaska yellow cedar, drawing your eyes up to the clerestory windows. These striking slatted-wood ceilings, flanked by glass, are reminiscent of the sculptural ceilings found in ocean-view stunners by famed Big Sur architect Mickey Muennig, whom Piechota apprenticed under not long after college.

An exterior view of a bunker-looking home that is built into the landscape from concrete. A bronze leopard statue sits in a green planter.
The concrete home features an antique Roman brick-style driveway made from cobblestones sourced from New York City.
An exterior view of the roof of the home with its barrel ceilings and windows, with views of the ocean beyond.
The roofline shows how the curving barrel-vaulted ceilings frame the ocean view.
The foyer showcases the Alaska-yellow-cedar ceilings, with concrete walls and a two-story concrete staircase that descends to the lower level.
A living room has concrete floors, a round dining room with chairs, and lounge chairs on a patio.
The dining room features Spanish limestone floors, concrete walls, and sliding doors that open to an expansive patio.
A wood kitchen with black countertops and a stainless steel chefs stove.
Two extra-thick black granite countertop islands each have sinks and plenty of storage.
A white bed sits on a wooden platform in a room with concrete walls and barrel vaulted ceilings.
The master bedroom has its own vaulted ceiling and views out to the ocean.

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