For 1920s Storybook Charm, Escape to California’s Carmel-by-the-Sea

SOME CALIFORNIA visitors head to Carmel-by-the-Sea for its proximity to Pebble Beach and the iconic “17-Mile Drive,” which everyone must do once in his or her life. Other travelers are drawn to the Storybook-style buildings that make the hamlet look like a place where Cinderella would get her glass slipper repaired or Hansel and Gretel might buy a rustic loaf to render into breadcrumbs. 

Stores evoke witches’ cottages with the sort of curled roofline called a “cat slide roof” (one that a black cat, no doubt, could glissade down). Other buildings sport “eyebrow dormers”—windows curved on the top and straight on the bottom, set into a roof. 

Other details conjure up castles. See: “jerkin-head gables,” roof canopies that resemble a medieval man’s cap, and “dovecotes,” stand-alone towers for birds to nest in. Aesthetics are everything in Carmel-by-the-Sea: A shingled roof covers an extant phone booth, and a wishing well offers its services outside a corner market. The signage at the Shell gas station features a carved wooden seashell.

“Storybook” isn’t an accepted architectural term but rather a fanciful (and useful) description that authors Arrol Gellner and Douglas Keister devised while scouting homes for their 2001 book on the quaint style. Storybook architecture originated in 1920s Hollywood, where structures that looked like they belonged in an English shire became popular.

The Spadena House in Beverly Hills, designed in 1921 by Hollywood art director Harry Oliver and still extant today, is the key example. Dubbed the “Witch’s House” by neighbors, it has pointy roofs and a creepy cuteness that suggest an abode for a cackling witch and her pet toads.

In Carmel-by-the-Sea at around the same time, two master builders Hugh W. Comstock and Michael J. Murphy, were shaping the look and character of this seaside town, and a number of the structures they built remain intact. Comstock’s designs seem aligned with Hollywood’s Storybook style, while Murphy oversaw the construction of 300 more traditional edifices, like the Harrison Memorial Library. A self-guided “Historic Walking Tour” of Carmel-by-the-Sea buildings starts at the Carmel Heritage Society, Murphy’s first home built in 1902.

Two of the town’s shops, both featured on the tour, reflect the Storybook style. The Tuck Box, a teahouse built in 1926, is a fairy-tale commercial building designed and built by Comstock. Its Hobbit-like facade has a fantastical door, and its original use—either as Comstock’s office or as a showcase for his wife Mayotta’s thriving Otsy-Totsy doll business—is disputed.

Living moss seasonally adorns the wood-shingled roof of the Cottage of Sweets, originally built in 1922 to house a loom shop. The candy store is close to a courtyard with winding passageways to explore, and its standout treats include créme brûlèe fudge and green-apple sour gumdrops that might entice Snow White.

If you need to step away from the cuteness, the beach with its canopy of Monterey cypress trees lies a few blocks from the town center. Come back to dine like a fairy-tale king on Wagyu beef at Grasing’s, or an updated lobster roll on brioche at Stationæry. 

Should you choose to stay the night in Carmel-by-the-Sea, consider the Cypress Inn. While not designed in the Storybook Style, it does have a claim to fame: Actress Doris Day was a co-owner of the pet-friendly Mediterranean-style boutique hotel.

EVERY WITCH WAY

Three other places in California to explore the Storybook Style

Los Angeles 

Academy Award-nominated art director Harry Oliver designed the first known example of Storybook architecture in 1921: the Spadena House, aka the Witch’s House, distinguished by wavy gables, pointy roofs and oddly positioned windows. You can drive by the private residence at 516 Walden Drive in Beverly Hills, owned by real estate agent Michael J. Libow since 1998, and now listed as a protected landmark. Don’t, however, come up the walkway unless it’s Halloween and you’re trick-or-treating. Oliver also dreamed up the quaint Tudor-style Tam O’Shanter Inn, which opened in 1922 in Atwater Village at 2980 Los Feliz Blvd. The Scottish steakhouse, now owned by Lawry’s, has multiple thatched roofs and a whimsical English Tudor look that qualifies it for Storybook-style status, although, sadly, renovations over the years have transformed its original charm. Walt Disney came in regularly to dine and sketch ideas for Disneyland on Tam O’Shanter napkins when his studio was nearby.

Oakland 

The Montclair District in the Oakland Hills has several Storybook structures, including the Montclair library, which looked ancient when it was brand new in 1930. Oakland is also notable for Storybook housing developments on Ross Street and 75th Avenue’s Holy Row, and around 70 homes in the Normandy Gardens enclave, including one on Picardy Drive, which is famous for its annual Christmas light displays.  

Berkeley 

Sip a craft cocktail and enjoy live music at Tupper & Reed. Designed by University of California alum W. R. Yelland, this bar retains a Storybook feel inside and out. Atop the chimney, a silhouette of a Pied Piper plays a trumpet, jubilantly crooking one leg; the building is listed on the National Register for Historic Places. Yelland, who was known for his Storybook  leanings, was also involved in the Normandy Village homes on Spruce Street in Berkeley.

For Further Reading “Storybook Style,” a 2001 book by Arrol Gellner and Douglas Keister, includes background and history on notable structures throughout the U.S.