Located in the historical Coronado, California this residence was built by master architect William Sterling. Sterling was an influential San Diego architect that designed noted civic and residential buildings during the late 1880’s. The original house was a 5,260 sf residence with six bedrooms, four bathrooms with a guesthouse attached, blending architectural styles with a an eye to the heritage of the land and incorporated windows, ventilation, and natural light. The new owners, Kevin and Carolyn Ashley, relocated from Kenya after a successful development of an East African restaurant chain called Java House. They commissioned their architects who designed the African restaurants to update the interiors and created a modern home with African influences without losing its century-old roots, earning Coronado Historical Association Going the Extra Mile award (GEM). The gracious entry remains unchanged, but elements such as opening up the staircase and removing some interior walls to create vistas between adjacent rooms created new spacial relationships that depart from the compartmentalized floor plan of the original design.
