Neighborhoods – Kahala

With 700 feet of water frontage on three sides of the property, this Vladimir Ossipoff-designed home’s dominant architectural feature is the ocean itself. Built in 1964, the Paiko Lagoon estate is surrounded by conservation lands, the lagoon as well as the ocean, offering panoramic views from just about every room.

We’ve covered this Hawaii Loa Ridge home, which Sydney Snyder of Ossipoff, Snyder and Rowland designed, before: See senior writer Mike Keany’s 2007 article, “Zen on the Ridge.”

Given architect Vladimir Ossipoff’s influence and popularity, his homes, when they come on the market, are highly coveted and command hefty price tags. For instance, there are about five Vladimir Ossipoff-designed homes currently for sale, most located on the island’s windward side and all listed for more than $3 million.

Many of you may recognize this opulent Kahala estate from this magazine’s 25 Most Expensive Homes in Hawaii article, which appeared in the September issue. Built by Honolulu attorney David Schutter in the 1980s, the property, which was ranked as the 17th most expensive home in Hawaii with an assessed value of $19.2 million, is currently owned by Kirin Planning.

A fan of the work of architect Vladimir Ossipoff (yes, even the hotly debated IBM Building), I’m experiencing a bit of real estate envy with this house, a Diamond Head stunner that displays many of the details for which Ossipoff has come to be known: whitewashed masonry, exposed concrete, natural finish woods, picture-window walls, large overhanging eaves and lanai that act as extensions of the interior spaces.

I first wrote about this house a few years ago for another magazine, and I’m still just as enamored with its idyllic, away-from-it-all location—at the end of a narrow, dirt drive surrounded by the Paiko Lagoon Bird Sanctuary and nearby conservation lands. Back then, I wrote in my notes that the house “doesn’t so much rise up to greet you as poke its head through the bushes. It’s a very subtle design, with a flat roof that echoes the linear line of the ocean and the horizon.” How very poetic of me.

Honolulu’s Black Point neighborhood is synonymous with luxury, having long been the community of choice for many of Oahu’s oldest and wealthiest families (Doris Duke’s Shangri La is located here) and a number of celebrities (Martin Denny, Tom Selleck, to name a few). Within this exclusive enclave there’s a mix of flashy, new mansions and more traditional homes, a category in which this understated, old-Hawaii home belongs.