A Beauty by Fresno's Favorite

A gorgeous modern home by a designer with connections to the early greats of American architecture is currently for sale, though one can't help but speculate how different its neighborhood might look in the coming decades.

"Art Dyson's name has a big draw in our community," remarked Scott Farrow, a Fresno-based realtor with Keller Williams who recently listed the house at 14240 Killarney Drive in nearby Madera for $825,000.

Farrow was explaining why the 3.6-acre property was promptly toured by 13 prospective buyers in its first four days on the market, besides its terrific viewshed and remarkable design.

The three-bed, two-bath home was built in 1990 in Sumner Hill, adjacent to the planned Tesoro Viejo development in Madera, a namesake county seat that lies 38 miles west of California's exact geographic center.

Even with the prospect of 8,000 more homes being added to the 2,000 already constructed in the Tesoro Viejo tract, this listing has a lot to offer, starting with its attractive siting atop its own riverside knoll.

"With the view and the land, it's probably valued at close to $850,000," Farrow speculated, noting that offers higher than the asking price have already been submitted.

A native of Inglewood and longtime resident of Fresno, Dyson was a teenage fellow at Frank Lloyd Wright's Tallesin West institute 40 years before serving as its dean from 1999-2002. He then worked as a draftsman in the early '60s at the Pasadena firm headed by William Gray Purcell, which had descended directly from the offices of the man called the father of modernism, Louis Sullivan.

Although many of his most creative designs have gone unbuilt, Dyson has a sterling reputation in the Central Valley, with Farrow noting of this house, "A lot of people know the home, but I wouldn't describe it as historic. To Art Dyson fans, they would know it."