This home, built by the “Dean of Rock Engineering” Gerry Jones, is the first home in Arizona to bridge a canyon and is the absolute height of creative architecture and ingenuity.
While Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty is well known for delivering some of the most unique homes from some of the most well-known architects, occasionally a home comes on the market that surprises even the most experienced of real estate connoisseurs. In this case, that surprise is a home that is quite literally built into a canyon.
Such is the incredible home at 7102 E Stagecoach Pass Rd in Carefree, Arizona. Listed by Agent Preston Westmoreland of Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty for $4,500,000, this represents one of the landmark homes designed by Gerry Jones, the ”Dean of Rock Engineering” and for 17 years a Taliesin instructor of extreme terrain architecture. The property is literally built into 2.12 acres of Arizona canyons.
The “Slingman Home” covers 3,400-square-feet of space with four bedrooms and three
bathrooms, but that doesn’t tell the true story of this architectural masterpiece. It is part of the ”Golden Triangle” and neighbor to the homes of Carefree founders K.T. Palmer and Tom Darlington, all of whom grabbed the most astonishing home sites at Carefree’s beginning as a town. This home is so distinctive that it was a rental favorite of film icon Orson Welles, and director John Huston actually started filming the sequel to “Citizen Kane” in this very location.
Those facts should be more than enough to impress, but the actual details of its place in cinematic history put this property in a new echelon of uniqueness. That “Citizen Kane” sequel set the record for the longest time a film has been in production, 48 years, with Netflix finally finishing the film itself. Its entire history was immortalized in the Netflix documentary “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead”, with plenty of behind-the-scenes footage of Carefree and the Slingman House.
Additional stories truly provide color to the idiosyncratic nature of this incredible home. For instance, Orson Welles was evicted because the lease for the home stated “No Filming”, and in a hurry he left behind his Size 68 boxer shorts, which the Slingman family used to hoist up the flagpole and had a wine toast to.
This home is easily one of the most unique that I’ve ever represented, and I am incredibly
fortunate to have the opportunity to find its new owner,” Westmoreland said. “It’s not every day that you get to work with a property that represents both the unique Arizona landscape and a slice of film history.”
Its cinematic past is only a small piece of what makes this property so special. Its canyon location provides it with the height of privacy; it is quite literally reached by a bridge and includes maybe the most private outdoor pool in the world. Rock cliffs by the pool have multiple sitting areas as you move through the terrain. There has never been a home like this before.
The rocky exterior stands in stark contrast to a comfortable and cozy interior. Its multiple ovens, granite countertops and breakfast room mean comfortable and easy food preparation and great dining experiences. Its covered patio, balcony and casita ensure that while it is exceedingly private that doesn’t mean that it’s not a fantastic place to relax and unwind with friends and family. And of course, the mountain views will take the breath from anyone who has the fortune of spending time there.
Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty has a long and storied history of connecting buyers to sellers for so many custom luxury homes. Very few combine the architectural creativity, natural beauty and historical value of the Slingman Home however. It is yet another reason why Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty stands alone as Arizona’s leading luxury real estate brokerage.
You can watch a virtual tour of this historic property here.