California’s Manzanita House: Modern Organic Architecture with Undulating Parabolic Roof

Sweeping Rooflines

The undulating parabolic roof on the Manzanita House in California features five parabolas designed by architect Charles Bello in 1965 to seamlessly blend into the Sonoma County, California hillside. To complement Mr. Bello’s design, Wedge Roofing recently installed a spray foam roof on the sweeping rooflines, preserving the architect’s vision. 

Visionary Architect

The son of an Italian stone mason who immigrated to California, Charles Bello received his education at Cal Poly. Subsequently, he pursued a career in engineering and architecture, working with prominent firms in the San Francisco Bay Area before establishing his firm in Healdsburg, CA, in 1960. Concurrently, Charles and his wife Vanna decided to lead a self-sufficient lifestyle, cultivating their food and constructing their home in the Manzanita forests of Sonoma County.

Manzanita House

Bello, a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, believes that “A house must grow in, around, and out of the landscape.” With this philosophy in mind, he designed and built the Manzanita House in 1965. In addition to the distinctive parabolic roof, a design feature Mr. Bello incorporated into many of his homes, the Manzanita House boasts an exterior structure crafted from stone, stucco, glass, and rough cedar poles. The home design seamlessly integrates into the hillside above Rincon Valley in Santa Rosa, California.

Organic Modern Architecture

In 1968, the Bello family purchased 400 acres of land in Mendocino County, considered worthless at the time due to lumber companies having clear-cut 96% of the old-growth redwoods, which once stood at 280 feet tall and were estimated to be 1,000 years old. Charles Bello built multiple homes on this land using salvaged materials, incorporating parabolic roofs designed to blend into the forest. Bello considers these homes as living sculptures, existing in harmony with nature and thoughtfully designed to complement the surrounding environment.

Northern California Land Steward

Alarmed by the encroachment of lumber companies purchasing land surrounding their property, the Bello’s established the Redwood Forest Institute to safeguard the 2,000 Redwood trees on their land indefinitely, thus committing to protecting Northern California’s Redwood Forests.

Read more about Charles Bello, a renowned architect and land preservationist, here.