Legendary landscape architect Robert Royston’s personal Mill Valley residence debuts at $2.995M after nearly 80 years of single-family ownership.
MILL VALLEY, CA, UNITED STATES, February 26, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A singular piece of California mid-century modern history is coming to market for the first time since its completion in 1947. The personal residence of legendary landscape architect Robert Royston, designed in collaboration with architect Joseph Allen Stein, will be offered at $2,995,000. The property is listed by Renee Adelmann, Realtor and Owner of Bay Area Modern Real Estate.
Lovingly held by the original family for nearly eight decades, the home represents a rare convergence of architecture, landscape, and art. Conceived as one half of a visionary pair of mirror-image residences that Royston and Stein designed for themselves across a shared driveway, the property stands as a remarkably intact example of postwar California modernism.
Set on approximately three-quarters of a mostly level acre in the heart of Mill Valley, the 2,731-square-foot residence captures sweeping views of Mount Tamalpais while dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior space. Stein’s distinctive plan rotates the living spaces 45 degrees within a square footprint around a central fireplace, maximizing light, view corridors, and connection to the garden. A single flat roof plane with deep overhangs shelters expansive glass walls that open to patios and outdoor rooms beyond.
The material palette is both restrained and expressive: mahogany, old-growth redwood, poured concrete floors with wood screeds and aggregate detailing, and a dramatic corrugated copper fireplace wall. Custom teak built-ins remain seamlessly integrated throughout, including shelving, display cabinetry, seating, and even a wall-mounted record player. The primary suite includes a dressing area and adjoining study with a hidden recessed cocktail bar, while a glass-walled former laundry now functions as a garden-facing office.
Beyond the main residence, a 352-square-foot freestanding studio tucked beneath the expansive view deck served as Royston’s personal workspace. The detached covered carport and storage areas maintain the property’s clean architectural lines.
Equally significant are the gardens, which Royston described as his laboratory. Over six decades, the landscape evolved as a testing ground for ideas about spatial composition, planting as painting and sculpture, and the integration of architecture and nature. The outdoor spaces were conceived as a sequence of “rooms without roofs,” defined by extended architectural planes, garden walls, and carefully orchestrated plantings.
One of the property’s most iconic features is the architectural screen wall designed by Royston in collaboration with artist Florence Swift. The screen incorporates sculptural tiles by Swift and traces its lineage to the 1949 San Francisco Museum of Art exhibition “Design in the Patio,” where Royston realized the installation before returning it permanently to his Mill Valley garden. The patio also features Swift-designed painted tiles embedded in concrete, reinforcing the home’s rare intersection of fine art and landscape design.
The Royston garden would go on to influence a generation of modern residential landscapes, receiving early recognition in Architectural Forum, Arts & Architecture, Sunset magazine, and regional publications throughout the 1950s. While Joseph Stein departed for India in the early 1950s, Royston continued to refine and evolve his garden over decades, ultimately creating one of the longest continuously stewarded modernist landscapes in California.
“This is not simply a home,” said Renee Adelmann of Bay Area Modern Real Estate. “It is a preserved chapter of California’s modernist movement. To represent the personal residence of Robert Royston, held by the same family since 1947 and maintained in museum-quality condition, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
A private gate at the lower portion of the property provides pedestrian access to downtown Mill Valley, offering a rare combination of privacy, scale, historical significance, and walkability.
The property, located at 18 Laverne Avenue in Mill Valley, California, is offered at $2,995,000. Showings are available by private appointment.
Additional information, photography, historical background, and a video tour can be viewed at:
https://18laverne.bayareamodernhome.com/
For additional information, photography, or media inquiries, contact:
Renee Adelmann
Bay Area Modern Real Estate
415-342-4537
Renee@BayAreaModern.com
About Bay Area Modern Real Estate
Founded in 2007, Bay Area Modern Real Estate is a boutique brokerage based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The firm has gained national and international recognition for its expertise in marketing and selling architecturally significant modern and mid-century modern homes.
Renee Adelmann
Bay Area Modern Real Estate
+1 415-342-4537
email us here
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18 Laverne – Home of Robert Royston for Sale
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