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Artist’s former home atop Mt. Washington comes with lovely garden for $1.1M

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The former home of noted artist and landscape architect Benji Okubo in 1953

At the center of the property is a koi pond with bridge.
Photos by Darwin Nercessian, courtesy of Dan Mancinelli and Brian Moore/Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California

Just around the corner from the Self-Realization Fellowship Headquarters and down the road from A. Quincy Jones’ Pilot House in Mt. Washington is where you’ll find this unique property.

Built in 1953, it was originally the home of Benji Okubo, an accomplished painter and illustrator whose ascendant art career was sadly derailed by World War II, when he was sent to internment camps. Following the war, Okubo worked as a landscape architect, “designing gardens for prominent businesses and celebrities,” per the Densho Encyclopedia.

A moon-shaped doorway leads to the open-plan living and dining room, which is lined with sliding glass doors on the canyon-facing side.
The kitchen looks out to a sizable rock waterfall, and features professional-grade appliances.

Okubo’s former home has been heavily altered by subsequent owners, but some of the artist’s original touches, including a sizable boulder in the home’s entryway and a rock waterfall in the master bedroom, are still in place.

Multiple bromeliad plants add color to the master bedroom’s rock fountain.
One of the two bonus studios.
Features include bamboo flooring and two skylights.

Other notable features of the 1,412-square-foot residence include cherry wood floors, a moon-shaped doorway, oversize glass sliders, an Aga stove, a double-size refrigerator-freezer, and two freestanding fireplaces. There’s also a 9-by-20-foot basement.

A shaded daybed nook offers dramatic canyon views.

Outside on the 9,478-square-foot grounds, there are multiple waterfalls, Okubo’s rockscapes, a koi pond with a bridge, abundant fruit trees, an outdoor daybed positioned for enjoying bucolic canyon views, a massive sculpture made from part of a tree that had fallen nearby, and two separate bonus studios.

3931 Rome Court is listed with Dan Mancinelli and Brian Moore of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services for an asking price of $1.098 million. Open house is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.