In YourIn YourDreamsDreamsSPECIAL SECTION

Mostly unchanged for the past 99 years, the dining room (right) in this cozyM.J. Murphy bungalow in the Carmel Highlands has seen many holiday din-ners. The redwood is all original, as are the wood floors. The house is setinto a hillside (top), and its modest entrance opens into a first floor that’sdominated by views of the ocean (below right).

A piece of the past that could easily be a retreat from the present

By ELAINE HESSER

WHEN YOU’RE sitting in the liv-ing room at 154 HighlandDrive you can easily imagine

the scene. Florence Buchenroth, whose par-ents lived there for decades, recalls eveningsin the cozy bungalow, which is hidden behindivy and a rounded, fairytale gate.

“We always had dinner together. Everynight at 5 we’d gather around the windowand my mother and father would have cock-tails,” she told a visiting reporter. “Then we’dwait to see if we could see the green flash.”

That refers to a rare trick of the light inwhich the sun appears to briefly change colorto bright green, just before it disappears intothe ocean. “We saw it a few times,” she said.

The window she referred to is the firstthing that catches your eye as you walkthrough the entryway. It overlooks the ocean,and Wildcat Cove to the south. Buchenrothsays whale-watching from the house is excel-lent.

Puffers and DrummondsThe home was built in 1918 by M.J.

Murphy. Back then, The Pine Cone waschock-full of wartime fundraising appeals,comings and goings at the Pine Inn, and adsfrom the then-fledgling Carmel Realty. TheHighlands Inn — just a short distance downthe narrow, one-way road from theDrummond house — had been open for ayear.

Fast-forward 99 years, and the family isoffering the house for sale, with the help ofCarmel Realty, for $2.35 million. It’s beenhome to just two families — that of the origi-nal owners, William and Claire Puffer, and

the Frances and Drummond Hoffman family.Drummond died in 1999, and Frances

died last year. The house passed to theirdaughters, Buchenroth, who lives in CarmelValley, and Leslie Riehl, who lives in the SanFrancisco Bay area, and they decided to sell it.

“It’s time for someone else to make thishouse their own,” Buchenroth said. A thirdsister, Frances, passed away some time ago.

Buchenroth discovered it was a Murphyhouse while doing research before putting iton the market. She said her parents, whowere art collectors and world travelers, wouldhave loved knowing that.

Foundation mysteryHer mom suspected it was a Julia Morgan

house or maybe a Bernard Maybeck, butBuchenroth said Katie O’Connell, historylibrarian at Harrison Memorial Library,helped her find her childhood home’s truehistory.

One thing she still hasn’t figured out, how-ever, is how the foundation was poured — it’sbuilt into the side of a ridge, and remember,it was 1918. You can see it in a few places inthe lower floor of house, and she just pointedto it and marveled, “How did they do that?”

The house hasn’t changed very much inthe last 10 decades.

The Douglas fir floors are original, as arewarm redwood built-in cabinets, shelves anddrawers.

“My mother hand-sanded every piece andrubbed them with oil,” when she moved inback in 1962, Buchenroth said. She remem-bered having great adventures with otherHighlands kids, and learning the three R’s in

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8 IYD The Carmel Pine Cone March 3, 2017

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the one-room Palo Colorado schoolhouse.She said her parents took the kids to Europe when they were

little. “We fell in love with Greece — especially the music, thefood and the dancing.”

Buchenroth said her mom wasn’t too fond of some of theoriginal light fixtures, and removed a couple of interior doors,but they’ve all been stored away, so the next owners can putthem back if they’ve a mind to.

Heat comes from pellet stoves — which Buchenroth said canmake the rooms “quite hot, like a sauna” — and a large brickfireplace in the living room. The master bedroom is on the mainfloor, next to a bathroom, and two more bedrooms — both withviews — are down a flight of stairs. Between them is a secondbathroom that’s big enough to put in a walk-in closet or dress-ing room.

Visiting monarchsThe kitchen is a good size, with plenty of built-in storage

space in a pass-through that leads to the dining room. There’s alittle breakfast nook that Buchenroth says is an example ofMurphy’s use of light — it’s bright and warmed by the sun mostmornings. Just outside the kitchen door, part of the stoneworkhas been hollowed out to put in a few herb plants.

Outside, there’s a patio and terracing suitable for a garden,and several stone staircases. At one point, Buchenroth said, she

for an inland milkweed patch. Buchenroth said she understands how they might feel. “It

was hard packing the place up, and Leslie and I are talkingabout maybe having one more pajama party here before weleave.”

and her dad dug out the main patio and put in a swimmingpool, but it’s since been filled in.

There’s a lemon tree and a bottlebrush bush, and when thisreporter visited, about a dozen monarch butterflies still flittedabout, as if they were loath to leave the beautiful views to head

HIGHLANDSFrom previous page

The rustic brickfireplace is stillthe main sourceof heat in thehouse and wasthe centerpieceof generationsof family gath-erings. Now it’swaiting for thenext chapter inits story to bewritten.

Carmel ■ 4 Bed, 2.5 Bath ■ $2,250,000 ■ www.CarmelOceanViewTreehouse.com

Bobbie Ehrenpreis831.915.8010 ■ Bobbie@CarmelRealtyCompany.com