insight is a series at the Sacramento Bee where we give readers a behind-the-scenes look at restaurants, new businesses, local attractions and news stories.
In the small town of Nevada City at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, an 800 square meter house is for sale that has a special feature: a majestic concert hall inside the house.
The two-story home is owned by Tom Dalldorf, former editor and publisher of Celebrator Beer News, one of the first craft beer newspapers in North America. Dalldorf has deep roots in Nevada City and Grass Valley and is known not only as a beer connoisseur, but also as an author and musician.
His and his wife Arlene’s three-acre estate is for sale for $1.9 million. Nevada City is located 60 miles north of Sacramento, California.
The stately concert hall covers almost 185 square meters. The ceilings are 7.3 meters high. The floor is made of polished cherry wood with inlays. And the acoustics are professionally constructed. There is a raised stage and a staircase leads to a mezzanine that connects the two wings of the large house.
Performance by the Harvard Glee Club
The Harvard Glee Club, founded in 1858, is one of the renowned musical groups that have performed in Dalldorf’s Hall. The choir is the oldest college choir in the United States.
“With 50 voices, you can imagine young men in jackets and ties around the stage, the stairs and the upper floor (mezzanine) for an audience of 40 to 50 people,” said Dalldorf. “So that’s 100 people in the hall. It was magical because they sang everything from Gregorian chants to Billy Joel and everything in between. It was pretty amazing.”
While the house is for sale, the hall will continue to be used. On Sunday, Dalldorf will present “An Evening Wasted … The Music of Tom Lehrer” with pianist Anni McCann.
The property was once the home of ED Bridges, owner of the Pine Grove Quarry in Nevada City, according to Dalldorf. Bridges built his home there in the late 1800s and used granite from the quarry as a foundation. Some of the original granite pieces can still be seen as ornamental pieces on the property today.
Rebuilt on historic site
In the late 1980s, Allan Hayes, a Harvard Law School graduate and symphony lover, bought the house, completely tore down the old structure and built a new home from the stone foundations up, according to broker Brian Puleo of Gold Group Realty and public records.
The seven-bedroom residence has much more to offer than just the music room, starting with the chef’s kitchen to the right of the grand foyer. Guests enter the music room to the left of the formal entrance.
Granite worktops in Absolute Black, complemented by lighter Carrara marbleimmediately draw attention in the kitchen. So do the high-quality Viking appliances, including a stove with a high-temperature wok burner that Dalldorf said is “like cooking on the exhaust of an F-16.”
A pantry is attached to the kitchen. According to the property description, the entire food preparation area offers space for 10 employees.
A library, also known as the “Bourbon Room,” features floor-to-ceiling mahogany paneling and a marble-mantel fireplace.
Upstairs, a media room seats a dozen people. The theater has an LED projector and a 2000-watt sound system.
A side room off the concert hall features a gleaming bar that opens onto a spacious patio and additional outdoor tables. The property does not have a liquor license, so the bar is used only for private events, Dalldorf said.
“But I thought a place like this should have a proper cocktail bar,” he added. “So that was the idea.”
Powered by solar energy
The highlight of the gently sloping property is a well-kept barn from the 1880s, which stands on a separate plot and thus offers the possibility of adding a guest house.
The house is powered by 38 solar modules on the roof.
“It turned out to be the perfect south-facing roof with the right slope – 38 panels, and they offset the PG&E fees,” Dalldorf said.
According to Puleo, the agent, there are endless possibilities for a potential buyer as to what they could do with the property. They could rent it out for weddings and receptions, run a bed and breakfast, use it as a private music school or even a yoga retreat. It could also serve as a recording studio for a musician.
The property at 11417 Red Dog Road is just three minutes from Broad Street, home to many of the gold rush town’s entertainment and attractions, including museums, galleries, shops and restaurants.
Nevada City, surrounded by forests, is known, among other things, for its Victorian Christmas celebration, which takes place in the hilly streets decorated for Christmas with authentic gas lamps, wandering carolers dressed in period fashion, street vendors and roasted chestnuts.
