An architectural marvel that pays homage to the majesty of the ocean has hit the market in Malibu, Calif., with an asking price of $49.5 million. Known as the Wave House, the remarkable six-bedroom residence was designed in the 1950s by visionary architect Harry Gesner.
Exterior view of Wave House in Malibu. Photo: Simon Berlin. Courtesy of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
According to tradition, when Gesner designed the unique 6,200 square foot abode that sits on less than an acre of beachfront land, he camped at the site for several days, immersing himself in the natural surroundings. and watching the waves as they receded. and flowed. It is on one of these waves that he would have drawn when he made the plans for the house, marking it directly on his surfboard with a grease pencil. He imagined Wave House as extending into the waves at high tide, one with the water, with protruding rooflines resembling crashing waves..
Wave House offers breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. Photo: Simon Berlin. Courtesy of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
With its curved walls and beams, as well as its cantilevered roofs, the house…originally designed for Gesner’s friends and fellow surfers, Gerry and Glenn Coope—was a radical departure from traditional 1950s architecture. Yet the project met with immediate success and helped establish Gesner as a leading figure in the California Mid-Century Modern movement.
Wave House became the springboard for Harry Gesner’s rise to international fame, catching the eye of Jørn Utzon, the Danish architect behind the iconic Sydney Opera House. According to Zen Gesner, Harry’s son and one of the listing agents, Utzon personally contacted Gesner, praising the house’s ingenuity and acknowledging his influence on the Australian monument.
“My dad was totally blown away that this architect went out of his way to contact him and compliment him on his design,” the young Gesner told the the wall street journal. “Most architects are egocentric. They don’t tend to tip their hats to another architect.
Wave House at sunset. Photo: Simon Berlin. Courtesy of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
In the 1970s, Wave House was bought by musician Rod Stewart. Zen Gesner, who grew up next door in a structure known as Sandcastle House which his father also designed, remembers the British rocker as a great neighbor who clearly enjoyed the property, often dancing on its trackless bridges. Stewart made several modifications to Wave House, including adding railings and installing large concrete pillars for additional support.
The architect of Wave House lived next door in Sandcastle (left). Photo: Simon Berlin. Courtesy of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
More recently, Wave House was owned by Mo Ostin, the musical director who ran Warner Brothers Records for decades. He was also a top-notch art collector. Its first-rate collection has been the subject of a major Sotheby’s evening auction earlier this month in New York which totaled $123.7 million (all but one lot sold). It is not known if any of the 15 lots in the Mo Ostin sale have ever been snagged at Wave House.
The listing comes less than a month after the adjacent Sandcastle House went on the market for $27.5 million, following the architect’s death in 2022, the same year Mo Ostin died, at the age of 95. Zen Gesner hopes that the two houses will be acquired. by a single buyer, preserving the two pillars of Malibu’s architectural history.
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