OLD LAWLEY TOLL ROAD - CALISTOGA

Perched on the slopes of Mount St. Helena with panoramic views of Jericho Canyon, this 49-acre wine-country property maintains an intimate feeling of seclusion. Located on the historic Old Lawley Toll Road, the original 1,600 sf residence was recently transformed into a 3,400 sf family home that celebrates the very best of indoor-outdoor living.

The original home was tiny but beloved. Rather than tearing it down, it was preserved with its traditional forms intact, while a new contemporary extension was built to bring in more light and volume. The addition includes an independent entrance to a yoga room and generous wine storage, befitting a vineyard property known for its premium estate-grown Cabernet. Multiple outdoor spaces were also created, with upper and lower decks tiering down the steeply sloping hillside. The upper deck houses an outdoor kitchen and dining area, while the lower deck hovers ten feet above a plateau with a new infinity pool amplifying the dramatic views. Vineyards surround a third outdoor area with a cozy picnic area, raised garden beds, and a pizza oven tucked into the retaining wall.

The new home is a place of many moods—whether mist, fog, sun, or time of day, it captures a modern rural vernacular with a fresh, yet classic wine country feel—both indoors and out.  

TEAM CREDITS

PHOTOGRAPHY + VENDOR DETAILS

Photography by Adam Potts.  All rights reserved. View all photography and vendor details here.

BEFORE + AFTER PHOTOS

HISTORY OF OLD LAWLEY TOLL ROAD

Old Lawley Toll Road is a hidden historic gem in northern Napa Valley. It originates at Silverado Trail, winding up Mount St. Helena, and ends today at Route 29. Originally built in 1868, its most famous visitors came in the summer of 1880 when the young Robert Louis Stevenson was honeymooning with his new bride in the resort town of Calistoga. Running low on cash, they spent 2 months squatting in the bunkhouse of an abandoned mining camp just off Old Lawley Toll Road. They did what visitors to the area do today—living graciously within the constraints of their rustic home, admiring the region's beauty, and enjoying the local food and wine. His travelogue of the journey, The Silverado Squatters, was published in 1883 and introduced the world to the beauty of Napa Valley and the quality of its wine, famously describing it as "bottled poetry.”

“A rough smack of resin was in the air, and a crystal mountain purity. It came pouring over these green slopes by the oceanful. Gladness seemed to inhabit these upper zones, and we had left indifference behind us in the valley. I to the hills lift mine eyes! There are days in a life when thus to climb out of the lowlands seems like scaling heaven.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters

PUBLICIST

Kim Gonthier
DAVIS GONTHIER
415.798.7142
kim@davisgonthier.com
@davisgonthier