One house, three makers: Foster Rhodes Jackson designed it, Sam Maloof helped build it, and Barbara Bestor brought it back.
Most architectural homes carry one signature. The Summit House in La Verne carries three. It is the kind of house that sends people looking for an architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles who actually knows this world, because pedigree like this does not price itself. Designed in 1953 by a Frank Lloyd Wright protege, built alongside a MacArthur-honored woodworker, and recently restored by one of Los Angeles' most respected architects, it sits among the rarest architectural homes in the eastern foothills.
If you love design-forward houses the way Debbie Pisaro does, the Summit House rewards a close look. Here is the full story of the home, the people who shaped it, and what it means to own something with this kind of record behind it.
The Summit House is a mid-century modern estate at 126 Summit Road in La Verne, California, designed in 1953 by Frank Lloyd Wright protege Foster Rhodes Jackson. It carries the hands of three makers: Jackson's organic design, Sam Maloof's woodworking, and a restoration by Barbara Bestor. The roughly 9,453 square foot home sits on 1.34 acres and is listed at $12,750,000.
What is the Summit House in La Verne?
The Summit House is a mid-century modern estate in the foothills above the Pomona Valley, at 126 Summit Road in La Verne. It was designed in 1953 and has been published in Architectural Digest. What separates it from a well-built midcentury house is its lineage: three notable makers left their mark on it, which is rare enough to make the home a genuine piece of California design history.
The house was built for light-filled indoor-outdoor living, with organic materials, dramatic masonry, and warm hemlock detailing throughout. Leaded glass by the Claremont artist Mike Hill filters the light. The foothill setting gives you privacy, elevation, and long views, with hiking close at hand and the cultural pull of Claremont and its village a short drive away.
Who was Foster Rhodes Jackson?
Foster Rhodes Jackson, AIA, trained at MIT and apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright in 1945 and 1946, absorbing Wright's organic philosophy at the source, the same philosophy behind Wright's own Los Angeles landmarks like the Ennis House. Over his career Jackson completed roughly 800 projects, and the Summit House stands among his most fully realized.
You can read Wright's influence in the bones of the house. It settles into the hillside rather than sitting on top of it. The lines run long and low, and the materials pull the landscape indoors. Jackson did not copy Wright any more than John Lautner copied his own teachers. He carried the idea forward and made it his own, the same lineage that runs through the best Los Angeles house styles that Debbie Pisaro represents across the region.
That organic tradition is the through-line of California modernism, from R.M. Schindler in the canyons to the Stahl House that defined the Case Study era. The Summit House belongs in that conversation, which is exactly why its provenance carries real weight with collectors.
What was Sam Maloof's role?
Sam Maloof is one of the most important American furniture makers of the twentieth century. A self-taught woodworker, he became the first craftsperson ever awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, in 1985, and his rocking chairs sit in the collections of the Smithsonian and the White House.
Maloof's hand in the Summit House is what elevates it from architecture into craft. The joinery, the wood detailing, and the sense that every surface was made by someone who cared how it would feel under your hand: that is the Maloof signature. Very few homes anywhere can claim his involvement, and fewer still pair it with a Wright-trained architect. It is the same instinct for the handmade that runs through the iconic architectural homes Debbie has profiled, from Richard Neutra to the modernists of the postwar Valley.
What did Barbara Bestor change?
Barbara Bestor, FAIA, of Bestor Architecture is one of Southern California's most respected contemporary architects. Her recent work on the Summit House expanded and restored the home while protecting everything that made it matter. You can read more about her work on Debbie's Barbara Bestor profile.
This is the hardest kind of project to do well. Restore too lightly and the house does not function for modern life. Restore too heavily and you erase the reason it is special. Bestor threaded that needle. She updated the estate thoughtfully and spared no expense while keeping Jackson's organic vision and Maloof's craftsmanship intact. The result reads as historic and lives as current.
Restoration quality is invisible on a listing sheet and decisive in person. On a house like this, who did the work matters as much as what was done.
Why do design-forward buyers look at La Verne?
La Verne sits in the foothills at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, and it trades a great deal for its price relative to the Westside or the Hollywood Hills. You get land, elevation, and quiet, and you give up almost nothing in access, with the 210 and 10 freeways putting greater Los Angeles within reach.
For an architectural buyer, the appeal is simple. A home of this pedigree and scale on nearly an acre and a half of foothill land would command a very different number closer to the coast. That value gap is exactly why design-forward buyers keep discovering the eastern foothills, the same pattern Debbie mapped in her Simi Valley architectural case study. The eastern edge of the county is where provenance still comes at a relative discount.
Buying an architectural home like the Summit House
Architectural homes do not trade like ordinary listings. Provenance, restoration quality, and the reputation of the makers all move the number, and none of that shows up in a Zestimate or an automated valuation. This is the kind of property Debbie Pisaro works with every day.
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across Los Angeles and the surrounding neighborhoods. She knows how to read a house like the Summit House: what the Jackson and Maloof names actually add, how a Bestor restoration should be valued, and where the market for this kind of home is heading. She built her brokerage around exactly this work, which is the story behind why she built Coastline 840 and why boutique teams outperform the big-box brokerages.
If you are weighing a home at this level, a conversation with an experienced architectural real estate agent is worth having before you make an offer. Debbie also works regularly with off-market architectural listings that never hit the public sites, and she can run a private home valuation on an architectural home you already own. She welcomes collaboration with other agents whose clients are looking for homes of this caliber.
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Summit House and La Verne, answered
Who designed the Summit House in La Verne, California?
The Summit House was designed in 1953 by Foster Rhodes Jackson, an MIT-trained architect who apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright. The woodworker Sam Maloof contributed to the build, and Barbara Bestor of Bestor Architecture led a recent expansion and restoration, which gives the home three significant makers in a single place.
Is the Summit House in La Verne a Frank Lloyd Wright house?
No. Frank Lloyd Wright did not design the Summit House. It was designed by his apprentice Foster Rhodes Jackson, who trained under Wright in 1945 and 1946 and carried the organic philosophy forward. The house reflects Wright's ideas through Jackson's own hand and drawings, not Wright's, and stands on its own.
How much does the Summit House in La Verne cost?
The Summit House is offered at $12,750,000 under MLS 26673879. It is a roughly 9,453 square foot estate with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms on 1.34 acres in the Pomona Valley foothills. For an architectural home of this pedigree, the price reflects rare provenance far more than raw square footage.
What is Sam Maloof known for?
Sam Maloof was a self-taught American woodworker and the first craftsperson to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, awarded in 1985. His chairs sit in the Smithsonian and other major collections. His involvement in the Summit House is part of what lifts the home from fine architecture into the realm of collectible craft.
Who restored the Summit House?
Barbara Bestor, of Bestor Architecture, led the recent expansion and restoration of the Summit House. Bestor is one of Southern California's most respected contemporary architects. Her work updated the estate for modern living while protecting Foster Rhodes Jackson's organic design and Sam Maloof's craftsmanship, the two things that make the house matter.
Why do buyers choose La Verne?
La Verne sits in the foothills at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, near Claremont and the Pomona Valley. Design-forward buyers are drawn to it because a home of real architectural pedigree and acreage costs far less there than a comparable property would closer to the Los Angeles coast.
What should I know before buying an architectural home like this?
Architectural homes do not price like ordinary listings. Provenance, restoration quality, and the reputation of the makers all move the number, and none of it shows up in an automated estimate. Work with someone who can read the house, because a name like Maloof changes value in ways the algorithms miss entirely.
Who is a good architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader who represents architectural, historic, and design-forward homes across Los Angeles. She works with named-architect houses and off-market listings, and welcomes collaboration with agents whose clients are looking at properties like the Summit House.
How can I see the Summit House or homes like it?
Contact Debbie Pisaro to arrange a private showing of the Summit House, or to explore comparable architectural and design-forward homes, including off-market listings that never reach the public sites. You can reach Debbie at (310) 362-6429 or by email, or request a valuation of your own architectural home.
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, an independent California brokerage, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. Updated July 2026.
Bestor Architecture, Claremont project. The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Compound, background on Sam Maloof. Property facts per the current MLS listing (26673879).
On the Register
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