By Jessica Flint

The specs

   -- List price: $7.46 million 
 
   -- Size: 4,382 sq. ft. 
 
   -- Land: 75.3 acres 
 
   -- 3 bedrooms, 4 baths 

An earthy yet elegant home

When entrepreneur Sandy Lawrence set out to build a home on the side of a rocky hill overlooking Napa Valley, she envisioned something that looked like it was growing out of the landscape.

So she built, quite literally, from the ground up.

The home was completed in 2002 using a green building technique called rammed earth that uses moist natural materials -- which can include clay, sand and gravel -- to form solid walls. Three caves on Lawrence's property provided some of the materials.

In 1997, Lawrence bought three contingent land parcels for $863,000, according to public records. She eventually built on the largest one, which spans roughly 70 acres. She estimates construction cost roughly $500 to $600 per square foot. Rammed earth is more expensive than traditional building for many reasons, including labor costs, says Lawrence, who is in her 70s and has owned businesses like a Michelin-star restaurant.

The layout features a great room with floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open to a pond, a formal dining room with a fireplace, a kitchen that is minimalist in style (but not in terms of features, as there are two ovens and two dishwashers) and an office with built-in bookshelves. The primary suite has a wood-burning stove and media center with a wet bar; the room opens to a patio. There are two other en suite bedrooms.

The house was designed by San Francisco-based architect Michael Baushke and built by late Napa-based architect David Easton, who was a leading expert in the modern-day rammed earth method.

Can't-miss features

Walls are not usually a showstopper--but they are here. Ranging from 8 to 24 inches thick, there is a rough side and a smooth side. The texture adds to the house's natural look and feel.

Throughout the house are 35 doors, many of which open to the outside but have inside shutters. "The shutters are an amazing feature because many of the rooms can be darkened without window coverings," Lawrence says.

Eco cred

Rammed earth is a construction process that uses largely local, natural materials, which, as compared with some conventional building materials, are not as energy-intensive to produce and have a reduced carbon footprint due to lessened transport.

The thick walls are also energy efficient and have reduced Lawrence's heating and cooling costs. "The temperature inside the house is comfortable most of the year," says Lawrence.

Renovation costs

In 2010, Lawrence slightly expanded the house's footprint using 18-inch-thick rammed earth blocks. "It looks like the rest of the house, but in a brick format," she says. She also remodeled the kitchen and some bathrooms. She believes the renovation costs were around $1,200 per square foot.

Market snapshot

In January 2025, Napa's median home sale price was $850,000, according to Redfin. That is up about 36% since January 2020, when Napa's prepandemic median home sale price was $625,000.

Write to Jessica Flint at Jessica.Flint@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 14, 2025 15:15 ET (19:15 GMT)

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