On top of the world

A Surfside Colony landmark could be yours for a cool $8 million.

After 11 years of living in one of the most unusual homes in

Orange County, real estate mogul and former Lynnwood Fire Chief Jerry

Wallace is ready to sell his water-tower house, complete with

panoramic views.

“There really isn’t anything like it,” realtor Gloria Sceberras

said. “This is the property for the trophy person, the one who

already has everything and wants to add something special to their

holdings.”

The interior of the 90-foot tower at 1 Anderson St. remains a

mystery to most Sunset Beach residents. But since it is easily the

tallest structure for miles in any direction, many rely on it as a

navigational tool when driving down Pacific Coast Highway or steering

their dinghies into nearby Huntington Harbor.

“I use it as a reference point when I come in on my boat,”

volunteer firefighter John Woods said. “It’s like a lighthouse in

that it can be seen from a good distance.”

The house comes with its own elevator, maid’s quarters, complete

wrap-around deck and top-floor party room with electric shutters and

a hydraulic-powered fire pit that can be raised to dinning table

level or hidden in the ceiling to make room for a dance floor.

Wallace’s water-tower house is a mystery in a community that

prides itself on neighborliness. Stepping into the home is a badge of

honor in Sunset Beach, a privilege usually reserved for A-list

partygoers and donors to the Sunset Beach Women’s Club.

Artist Bill Anderson has never set foot in the house, but about 20

of his Sunset Beach paintings contain pictures of the tower.

“As soon as you put that water tower in a painting, people say ‘I

know where that is,’” Anderson said. “The character of Sunset Beach

is so much defined by that tower, along with buildings like Mothers

and the Harbor House. It’s like Huntington Beach in the old days when

the Golden Bear was still there.”

While the character of the building will remain the same, the new

owners will have a heck of time replacing the furniture -- anything

bigger than a toaster oven has to be pulled up the side of the house

using an intricate pulley system.

They might also want to consider updating some technological

features in the house that were once in vogue but would now seem more

appropriate on the set of an early Stanley Kubrick film.

The giant projection television could be exchanged for something a

little more high-definition, and the video-intercom system seems more

like a Cold War relic than a modern security system.

Despite the need for a few minor improvements, the place is a rare

gem in an otherwise homogenized housing market. A lower deck under

the house hides a hot tub and barbecue from curious tourists who

gather to stare at the property, and the master bathroom makes up for

a lack of doors with a circular design that allows the wall of the

room to spin and block the entryway.

Then there’s the view, a spectacular 360-degree experience that

includes nearly every icon in north Orange County and Long Beach as

well as Catalina Island.

“On a clear day, you can see San Diego,” said Sceberras. “It’s

really a landmark by the bay. When we have a full moon over the red

tides, the ocean literally glows.”

Property records don’t give a clear date of construction, but the

original water tower was built around 1890 to supply Sunset Beach and

Surfside Colony. It was later replaced with a new tower that included

a 75,000-gallon redwood tank. In 1966 the tower was sold to the city

of Huntington Beach, which integrated it into its own water system

for nine years. After that, Seal Beach gained ownership.

When the tower became obsolete, a three-year public debate raged

over what to do with the historic structure. The California Coastal

Commission eventually approved a plan by business partners George

Armstrong and Robert Odell Jr. to covert the tower into a home on the

condition that they perfectly replicate its original design. Woods

said he remembers community fundraisers and block parties to raise

money for the project.

Eventually the 50-ton house -- 35 feet high and 35 feet in

diameter -- was constructed in a nearby parking lot and placed atop

the tower platform with a giant crane. It would be almost a decade

before the pair sold the place.

These days the house costs about $25,000 a year to maintain,

including painting every two years and regular termite work -- the

house has been tented twice since it was built.

The house also attracts another type of visitor that sometimes

tests nerves -- tourists. Hardly a week goes by without someone

ringing the doorbell to get a peek. They have plenty of excuses --

they were lost, they thought it was a restaurant or they just wanted

to check the place out.

There’s also the claustrophobic elevator ride to the top, the

sways from earthquakes and storms and the isolation of living in a

tower six stories above everyone else. Pat Theis of the Sunset Beach

Community Assn. said the house will always be an icon to the

residents of Sunset Beach, but probably not a source of envy.

“It’s an unusual house that would take a very unusual person to

want to live there,” she said.