Jack London Penned Novels at This Idyllic Wine Country Estate. Now It Can Be Yours for $5 Million.
Always wanted to live like a world-famous literary figure? Now’s your chance, because the picturesque Northern California lodge where the late author and journalist Jack London loved to blissfully while away his days has just popped up for sale. Dubbed Wake Robin and nestled amid a 3-acre parcel in the charming village of Glen Ellen in Sonoma County, tucked away in a narrow canyon between the Sonoma and Mayacamas mountains, this beguiling estate is now on the market for a speck under $5 million with Matt Sevenau of Compass.
Particularly enamored by his editor Ninetta Eames’s niece Charmian Kittredge on his first trip to the property in summer 1902 with his then-wife Bessie and their two daughters, London returned the next year and later wed his soulmate and fellow writer Charmian after a highly publicized divorce. He subsequently made Wake Robin his home for some eight years, penning the bestselling novels White Fang and The Sea Wolf while concurrently buying seven neighboring parcels that he called the Beauty Ranch and today known as Jack London State Historic Park.
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Originally part of a vast Mexican rancho and later a 160-acre ranch, Wake Robin rests beside the merging Sonoma and Graham creeks and was transformed into a lodge during the 1890s by Joshua Chauvet. The deed has changed hands numerous times in the years since, with Ann and Alexander Frick acquiring the place in the 1990s and giving it an extensive renovation before handing over the keys to current owners Malcolm Walter and Elizabeth Fisher in 2020.
Spanning two stories and roughly 4,300 square feet, the modern three-bedroom, three-bath home is highlighted by an octagon-shaped living room that previously served as a lobby. Elsewhere is a fireside dining area that connects to a kitchen outfitted with Caesarstone countertops, an eat-in island, Dacor and Sub-Zero appliances, and a climate-controlled wine cellar with room for up to 500 bottles, as well as two offices, a bookshelf-clad library, a media room, and a screened porch. Another octagon-shaped room on the upper level houses a primary suite boasting a private deck and a walk-through closet that leads to a luxe bath spotlighted by a spa tub.
Outdoors, the gated grounds are laced with oak trees and host a pool and spa, a firepit, and a fully equipped barbecue station. There’s also a barn that could be used as a garage, a gym, or a flex space, per the listing, along with a horseshoe pit and bocce court, a fruit orchard, raised garden beds, and covered carport parking for two vehicles. A tree stump where London would often sit and write also still graces the grounds.
Water and Fisher, who themselves spent around $300,000 to upgrade the premises during their tenure, are moving because their work is mostly in Sonoma. “While we love living in Glen Ellen … We have found a home in Sonoma with many of the same amenities, but not the rich history that 4100 Wake Robin offers,” the couple said in a statement. “This is a bittersweet move.”
Click here for more photos of Wake Robin.
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