After two years on the market and no takers, the asking price has dropped to $7.6 million for curious Ashland house that looks like it belongs in a fairy forest or an Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of "Midsummer Night's Dream."

Sprites of all sorts -- maybe a wizard or two -- will feel at home with manzanita tree trunks festooning walls. Preserved trees also prop up an oversized granite kitchen island and some ceilings have tapered planks and cedar beams to resemble a "spacious treehouse," according to marketing material.

Amoeba, ovals and other organic shapes are seen in skylights and wall cut outs. Windows look like clouds or windswept pine and spruce trees. The fireplace has a glass mosaic inlay of two dragons that form a heart.

Although massive at 8,881 square feet, the house takes up just a speck of 700 acres of otherwise undeveloped property at 2700 North Valley View Road in Ashland. Despite the dome-like home's size, there are only two bedrooms.

And although the custom construction was finally completed in 2016 after a decade of work, the owners decided not to move in but to list the property for sale that February at $8,235,000.

You can't see the house from Valley View Road, which is exit 19 off Interstate 5. It's hidden far away from a road once used by the owners to visit their other property, an 11,000-square-foot residence and spiritual center called Circle of Teran that's concealed on another nearby large parcel.

Hand surgeon and shaman Scott Young, now known as Genesis, and his wife, spiritual author Robin James aka Sulara, the daughter of the founder of the Raymond James financial services company, developed both unconventional properties with no expense spared.

The retreat property has a huge glass conservatory that is heated and cooled to grow bananas, a 200-foot-wide lavender maze and a 5,000-square-foot barn with stables. The horse shower is the size of the only one-car garage.

Even if you know the history of the Circle of Teran, once listed for $10 million, nothing prepares you for the owners' other out-of-this-world house, one of the most-expensive listings in Oregon.

Dominating the total space are vast living and dining rooms and a 3,000-square-foot basement that's waiting to be finished.

Enter through arched front doors made of Brazilian mahogany and framed by copper trees with branches that extend to support the covered front porch. The doors are carved to depict salmon, coyotes and eagles.

Look up: The foyer's blue stone ceiling is intended to resemble the sky.

Look down: The foyer's granite floor design was inspired by the sandy shore at the edge of a river. In the rest of the house, hardwood floor was laid to look as if it were flowing like water, splashing up against walls and river rock planters.

"The entrance and the first impression are magical," says listing agent Kendra Ratcliff of Luxe Platinum Properties and Christie's International Real Estate. "There is a sense of peacefulness, almost as if the inside and outside were in perfect unison."

She says people refer to the property, named Shining Hand Ranch, as something out of "Harry Potter," "The Hobbit" or Arthurian legend.

"It's been called a fairy-tale home worthy of a Hogwarts wizard, Dumbledore's summer home and a place for Gandalf or Merlin to live," she says. "Who knew there were so many wizards?"

She shakes it off. She'd rather point to the quality of the woodwork and craftsmanship.

The steam shower in the master suite uses boulders as benches. There are double sinks -- in blue granite -- and a double shower.

Underneath the tree-supported kitchen counter is a floor covered in earth-tone travertine with pricey pewter inserts. The pewter pieces in the floor are repeated as drawer pulls embossed with a spiral.

You'll see rounded edges throughout the house. As with the Circle of Teran, sharp right angles and corners were avoided.

And if you're wondering about energy costs, all the floors of the three-level house are heated and cooled geothermally, and the infinity pool in an adjacent glass building is solar heated.



-- Janet Eastman



jeastman@oregonian.com

503-799-8739

@janeteastman



