Casa de Las Nubes, Vuelta Susana, La Tierra, Santa Fe, NM – SOLD

About the property

Casa de Las Nubes is a triple-adobe Pueblo Revival-style compound on a hilltop in La Tierra, a subdivision with 10-acre minimum lot sizes northwest of Santa Fe, with panoramic mountain views in every direction. The property consists of 18.18 acres and a main house of about 8,400 square feet, with a separate studio, a guesthouse and caretaker’s house combined in oe structure, and an office building bringing the total heated living space under roof to 11,746 square feet. There are five bedrooms and seven baths across the compound, four fireplaces, two two-car detached garages and an oversized garage for a recreational vehicle attached to the guest house, a private well, backup generator power, and a water storage and delivery system that doubles as fire protection.

The Webster Estates team handled the listing and sale of this magnificent estate on three occasions – initially for the estate of Eric Sloane, N.A., its original owner. William Lumpkins was the architect originally, and subsequent owners further embellished and added on to the original improvements. In July 1982, Architectural Digest published Eric Sloane’s Santa Fe adobe compound wherein a pull quote highlighted in a separate box with a larger font the following quote from Sloane – “I used a level and square to make sure things wiould not be level and square.”

The compound

A compound of this scale is a small settlement. The main house is the residence, on two levels, with the public rooms opening to the views. The guesthouse gives visitors their own front door, the studio gives an artist or a writer a separate place to work, and the caretaker’s house is what makes an eighteen-acre property practical to hold: someone lives there when the owners do not. The generator and the water storage are the infrastructure of a place that is meant to run on its own.

The hilltop is the reason for all of it. La Tierra is rolling piñon and juniper country, and a house on the top of one of its hills sees the Sangre de Cristos, the Jemez, and the mountain ranges to the south.

The land

La Tierra is a community of large lots northwest of the city, reached by way of Highway 599 and Camino La Tierra, with covenants that keep the parcels large and the houses apart. Eighteen acres is a serious holding even here. It is about twenty minutes to the Plaza and less to the Opera. The schools are Gonzales Elementary, Alameda Middle, and Capital High.

The Santa Fe market archive collects our sales across the city. In La Tierra we have also sold the Estrada Calabasa estate and the Vuelta Muerdago property, and for another large acreage estate on the north side of town, the Loma Serena estate off Tano Road. Our guide to Pueblo Revival homes covers the adobe tradition the compound belongs to.

About the transaction

In each of the three transactions, Webster Estates had the privilege of representing both the buyer and the seller, guiding each side with transparency and care to a smooth closing.

A compound of this size and stature has a selective buyer pool that recognizes and respects the magnificence and grandeuer of what this estate offers – privacy, panoramic views, architectural beauty, among many other desirable attributes. We held the listing, adjusted the expectation with the seller as the market moved, and when the buyer came we were in a position to serve both sides to a closing.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How large is Casa de Las Nubes? A: 18.18 acres with a main house of about 8,400 square feet and 11,746 square feet under roof in all, including a guesthouse, a studio, a caretaker’s house, and an office building. Five bedrooms, seven baths, four fireplaces, and two two-car and oversized RV garages.

Q: What infrastructure does it have? A: A private well, a backup generator, and a water storage system that serves as fire protection.

Q: What are the views? A: 360 degree mountain views from the hilltop, taking in the Sangre de Cristo, the Jemez, and the ranges to the south.

Q: Where is La Tierra? A: Northwest of Santa Fe off Highway 599 and Camino La Tierra, about twenty minutes from the Plaza.

Q: Which side did Webster Estates represent? A: Both. We represented the buyer and the seller in the transaction.

---

The Webster Estates Team handled this transaction. Chris Webster, Patti Webster, Christopher Webster III, and Paisley Mason Webster, Associate Brokers at Sotheby’s International Realty, operating from 54½ Lincoln Avenue on The Plaza since 1976.