Del Dios Ranch: Fred Briggs and Arthur Elrod in Rancho Santa Fe
Del Dios Ranch at a glance
Del Dios Ranch is a 1972 estate on El Camino del Norte in Rancho Santa Fe, designed by Laguna Beach architect Fred Briggs for Roland and Ramona Sahm, with interiors by Palm Springs designer Arthur Elrod. Its concrete, glass and reclaimed redwood main house sits on roughly fifty acres with a lake, a lemon grove and a horse barn.
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A Laguna Beach architect, a Palm Springs designer and a San Diego family who built one of Rancho Santa Fe’s great modern estates.
What is Del Dios Ranch?
Del Dios Ranch is the estate Roland and Ramona Sahm built in 1972 on El Camino del Norte, in the hills of Rancho Santa Fe. Most of Rancho Santa Fe is remembered for Lilian Rice’s whitewashed Spanish village of the 1920s. Del Dios Ranch belongs to a different story: a modern country estate of concrete, glass and redwood, designed by one of Orange County’s leading residential architects and furnished by the most sought-after interior designer in Palm Springs.
The name causes some confusion. Del Dios is also a small lakeside community on Lake Hodges, a few miles inland. Del Dios Ranch is not in it. The estate is a private property inside Rancho Santa Fe, and the two share a name and a part of the county, nothing more.
At its largest the Sahm land ran to more than two hundred acres. The estate itself, the main house, a guest house and the grounds around them, covers roughly fifty.
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Fred Briggs, Laguna Beach
The Sahms went up the coast for their architect. Fred Briggs, born in Detroit in 1924, served in the Navy in the Second World War, took his architecture degree at USC in 1949, and moved straight to Laguna Beach to open a practice he would run for fifty-two years. His public work shaped that town: the Laguna Beach Library, the Main Beach lifeguard tower, and the Dana Point Library down the coast. In 1991 Architectural Digest named him one of the world’s top one hundred residential architects.
Most of his houses are on the Laguna coast, and his obituary names Del Dios Ranch among his best-known work. It is the same stretch of coast where Rob Wellington Quigley built his first house for the Vivrette family, and a reminder that the line between San Diego and Orange County architecture has always been a soft one.
A modern country estate of concrete, glass and redwood.
Concrete, glass and redwood
Briggs built the main house of three materials and let each do one job. The foundations are poured-in-place concrete. The structure is redwood, reclaimed from Northern California. Large windows and skylights bring the light in. Underfoot, marble floors were laid without any grout between the stones, and heated from below.
The main house runs to roughly eight thousand square feet, with a separate guest house. Beyond it the Sahms built the grounds of a working country place: an indoor swimming pool and spa in its own pavilion, a tennis court, a lake, an organic lemon grove, and a six-stall equestrian barn with corrals and pasture.
Arthur Elrod’s last years
For the inside, the Sahms hired Arthur Elrod. From the mid-1950s until his death, Elrod ran Arthur Elrod Associates, often called the most successful interior design firm in Palm Springs, decorating houses for clients who reportedly included Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and Walt and Lillian Disney. His own house above Palm Springs, designed with John Lautner in 1968, is one of the best-known modern houses in California.
Elrod was killed in a car accident in February 1974, two years after Del Dios Ranch was finished. That places the Sahm interiors among the last major commissions of his career. Most of the firm’s business records were later discarded, so the houses themselves are now much of the record of his work.
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Join the Pocket Listings listThe family behind the ranch
Roland Sahm founded Elixir Industries, and he and Ramona Sahm became San Diego philanthropists and owners of thoroughbred racehorses, which goes some way to explaining the barn, the pasture and the acreage. Roland died in 2003 and Ramona in 2013, and the estate passed to a family trust.
Few Rancho Santa Fe properties tie together this many names from across California: a Laguna Beach architect, a Palm Springs designer, and a San Diego family who wanted a ranch that looked forward rather than back.
Del Dios Ranch is in Rancho Santa Fe, not in the lakeside community of Del Dios on Lake Hodges.
Modern houses in Rancho Santa Fe
Del Dios Ranch is part of a modern Rancho Santa Fe that is easy to miss behind the Spanish village. Richard Neutra built two houses here in 1952, the Marshall and Van Sicklen residences. Lloyd Ruocco, who began his career working beside Lilian Rice, designed the Yates Residence on Las Planideras in 1959, and a nineteen-year-old Jon Antelline designed his family’s house on Via de la Valle in 1960. Inland, the same appetite for modern country living shows up in Wallace Cunningham’s Lake House and across Escondido’s architectural homes.
For California buyers, an estate like this sits in the same conversation as the ranches of Ojai and Santa Barbara and the desert houses of Palm Springs. The full San Diego County picture is in San Diego architectural homes, and the state’s architects are in Debbie Pisaro’s guide to California’s architects.
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across California. Estates like this one call for an architectural homes specialist who reads the land, the house and the record together. Choosing who handles a San Diego property is its own question, and the page on the best real estate agent in San Diego sets out what to ask first. More of the county is in Field Notes and San Diego neighborhoods. Debbie Pisaro is not the listing agent for Del Dios Ranch.
Why Del Dios Ranch stays with me
What struck me is how big it is, and how little of that size shows off. Roughly eight thousand square feet of main house, a guest house, a pool pavilion, a barn and about fifty acres, and the materials are concrete, redwood and glass. Nothing gilded. It's a ranch that happens to be an estate, not the other way around.
The house does the hard thing well: it holds the land instead of competing with it. Reclaimed redwood ages into its setting, and marble laid without grout is the kind of detail you only notice when you're barefoot on it. That's Fred Briggs and Arthur Elrod working at the top of their game.
The buyer I picture wants room more than rooms. Someone who'd ride before breakfast, pick lemons for dinner and sit by the lake at night. Probably someone who knows Ojai or Santa Barbara ranches and wants that life closer to the coast and to San Diego.
Here's the honest part. A 1972 estate at this scale is a lot of house, a lot of land and a lot of systems, and the record on what's original and what's been changed isn't all in one place. The homework is the permit history, the condition of that redwood and concrete, and what Elrod's interiors still look like today. I'd want all of that in hand before anyone talks numbers.
Bottom line: Del Dios Ranch is one of the most complete modern estates in Rancho Santa Fe, and the Briggs and Elrod pairing makes it rare anywhere in California. It deserves a buyer who wants to keep it whole.
Del Dios Ranch, frequently asked
What is Del Dios Ranch?
Del Dios Ranch is a modern estate on El Camino del Norte in Rancho Santa Fe, built in 1972 for Roland and Ramona Sahm. Laguna Beach architect Fred Briggs designed the concrete, glass and reclaimed redwood main house, Arthur Elrod did the interiors, and the grounds include a lake, a lemon grove and a horse barn.
Who designed Del Dios Ranch in Rancho Santa Fe?
Fred Briggs, the Laguna Beach architect, designed Del Dios Ranch in 1972, including the main house and a guest house. Palm Springs designer Arthur Elrod created the interiors. Briggs practiced for fifty-two years, and his obituary names Del Dios Ranch among his best-known work, alongside public buildings in Laguna Beach.
Who was Fred Briggs?
Fred Briggs (1924 to 2008) was a Laguna Beach architect. Born in Detroit, he served in the Navy in the Second World War, graduated in architecture from USC in 1949, and practiced for fifty-two years. He designed the Laguna Beach Library and the Main Beach lifeguard tower, and Architectural Digest named him a top residential architect in 1991.
What did Arthur Elrod do at Del Dios Ranch?
Arthur Elrod, the Palm Springs interior designer, created the interiors of Del Dios Ranch for the Sahm family. The house was finished in 1972, and Elrod was killed in a car accident in February 1974, which makes the commission one of the last major projects of his career. His best-known work is his own Palm Springs house, by John Lautner.
Who built Del Dios Ranch?
Roland and Ramona Sahm built Del Dios Ranch in 1972. Roland Sahm founded Elixir Industries, and the couple were San Diego philanthropists who owned thoroughbred racehorses, which explains the barn, corrals and pasture. Roland died in 2003 and Ramona in 2013, and the estate passed to a family trust.
Is Del Dios Ranch in the community of Del Dios?
No. Del Dios Ranch is a private estate in Rancho Santa Fe, on El Camino del Norte. Del Dios is a separate small community on the shore of Lake Hodges, a few miles inland. The two share a name and a part of north San Diego County, but the ranch is not in the lakeside town.
What is Del Dios Ranch built from?
The main house stands on poured-in-place concrete foundations, with a structure of reclaimed redwood from Northern California and walls of glass and skylights. The marble floors were laid without any grout between the stones and are heated from below. The main house runs to roughly eight thousand square feet, with a separate guest house.
What is on the grounds of Del Dios Ranch?
Beyond the main house and guest house, the estate has an indoor swimming pool and spa in its own pavilion, a tennis court, a lake, an organic lemon grove, and a six-stall equestrian barn with corrals and pasture. The estate covers roughly fifty acres, out of family land that once ran to more than two hundred.
Who is a good real estate agent for a Rancho Santa Fe estate?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader who represents buyers and sellers of architectural homes and estates across California, San Diego County included. She treats the land, the house and its record together, and can be reached at (310) 362-6429 or debbie@coastline840.com.
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Debbie Pisaro of Coastline 840 represents buyers and sellers on documented architectural homes across California, San Diego County included, on or off market. I reply to every new inquiry within one business day.
(310) 362-6429 · debbie@coastline840.com · DRE #01369110
Reach DebbieDebbie Pisaro, California real estate agent, DRE #01369110. Coastline 840 is a brand/DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker.
General information, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Facts follow published coverage of the estate, Fred Briggs’s obituary, and the records of Arthur Elrod Associates; individual attributions should be verified against permits and recorded documents. Equal Housing Opportunity.
Debbie Pisaro of Coastline 840 is a California real estate agent, DRE #01369110, a 24-year veteran of California real estate and an Inman Luxury Leader, specializing in architectural and historic homes across the state, San Diego County included. Her architectural homes practice is at debbiepisaro.com. About Debbie
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