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home décor: The group pioneered
the use of laminates and particle-
board, neither of which is regarded
as a high-quality material today. The
style was broadl
y pilloried in the 1988
Tim Burton movie
Beetlejuice
, where
much of the plot concerns an out-of-
town couple who move into a classic
New England home with the intention
of turning it into a vulgar display of
Memphis-style architecture.
But the Olabuenagas say they’ve had
no problem living with Memphis. Over
the years, they illed the house with
contemporary art and entertained a
stream of friends and visitors interested
in the building. “We were concerned
that we would have to walk around with
kid gloves,” Lesley says, “but we use it
like a normal house.” In 20 years, the
only damage she says occurred was a
couple of broken drinking glasses and
a shattered plate.
The house is set inland, near the
center of Maui, about 30 minutes from
Kahului Airport. But its perch on a hilly
half-acre plot afords ocean views from
much of the property. There’s about
2,750 square feet of living space, with
three bedrooms (all on the second loor)
and two and a half bathrooms. One,
which is shared by two bedrooms, has
multicolored tiles and a soaking tub.
The house is also clearly divided into
public areas downstairs and private
rooms upstairs. A dining alcove is sep-
arated from the rest of the space by an
arch outlined in wood, and the kitchen—
which is open to the living room—is pop-
ulated by colorful, blocky cabinets and
counters. The bedrooms are cozier and
slightly less jarring, but no one would
confuse them with those in a conven-
tional abode.
Sottsass had carte blanche with the
landscaping, too. A 1,500-square-foot
deck is attached to the house, and
there’s a courtyard tiled in terra cotta
and porce l a i n.
Sottsass “sketched
out the garden, for
what we should do
in the front and the
back,” Lesley says.
The plan included
a grove of trees that
would shield the home from the road,
plus a lush—albeit compact—garden with
pathways. Two cypresses lank the back
door. “When we got them they were
around 3 feet tall,” Adrian says. “Now
they’re 40 feet.”
The couple’s decision to sell under-
scores the particular plight of design-
focused homeowners who have, in
their own way, devoted a signiicant
part of their life to maintaining what
they consider an architectural mas-
terpiece. The $9.8 million price puts
it in rareied company: Only 23 homes
on Maui are listed for $9 million or
more, according to Zillow, and all but
one of those houses is on the ocean.
(The other is a 20-acre-plus property.)
Whoever buys this one will probably do
so just because she loves it.
And if she doesn’t? “We’ve spoken
about it a hundred times,” Adrian says.
“The longer we think about it, the more
we come to terms with it.” Obviously,
he says, “we’d love for someone to keep
it exactly as it is. But once we sell it,
we have to cut our ties.” He compares
it to owning a valuable painting or a
1960s Ferrari. “You’re the caregiver,”
he says, “and then you pass it on to the
next person.”
77
REAL ESTATE
Bloomberg Pursuits
October 8, 2018
From left:
The western facade,
in vivid red, yellow,
and pastel green; the
master bedroom, with
a Sottsass-designed
bed; the living room,
with chairs and a
table by the architect