Todos Santos Beach House

Subtle Sandcastle

This spare, open-plan, Pacific beach house in Baja California offers a low key, angular aesthetic that gracefully blends into its agave and palm-dotted space in the sand.

Designed by Jorge Gracia, an architect published in Dwell, Wallpaper, and Architectural Record, this home is all about unobtrusive comfort. The spare structure combines concrete, some splashes of gleaming interior tile, and strong iron and wood elements. Among the latter is a central, extra wide door that moves life in the house outside, onto the minimal beachfront terrace and pool. The rectilinear retreat mimics its sandy lot, with architecture and interiors an unobtrusive variation on the earthen hue. Living spaces are decidedly simple and unadorned, drawing the focus outward to the blue skies and rolling ocean, only steps from the partially shaded pool patio, along a section of the Pacific known as a favorite whale watcher's perch.

Around

Located a few miles north of Todos Santos in Las Tunas, the house is steps from the shore and offers views on the La Cachora surf break, voted one of Mexico’s top ten beaches for its whale watching, sunsets, horseback riding and of course, swimming. The Sierra de la Laguna mountains create the home’s backdrop, and all around the property, agricultural plots reveal stands of avocado and mango interrupted by tall, fringed palm trees. Nearby La Pastora beach offers Todos Santos’ biggest waves, a hot spot for expert, big wave surfers who now make their way to the once isolated village. (Road access came to Todos Santos in the 1980s.)

Now a state-designated pueblo mágico, Todos Santos has gained significant traction as an artsy mecca for remote workers and creatives who love the town’s low-key, creatively bohemian lifestyle. Ideal for exploring on foot, the village is now full of farm-to-table markets, inventive fresh cafes and stylish restaurants and bars. Artists, jewelers and other makers sell their handmade wares from quaint brick shops and galleries, and surf schools and yoga and wellness retreats round out the scene. Set about an hour’s drive from both La Paz and Cabo San Lucas, Todos Santos occupies the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula and sits at the base of the Sierra de la Laguna mountains.