| The sale includes the last home built by Jones who was critical to the foundation of Carefree, Arizona. |
Architect Gerry Jones has been an incredibly important part of the history of the town of Carefree. While his work graces landscapes around the Valley, he is intrinsically tied to the town he helped found with his work. Therefore, it is appropriate that this masterpiece is in the place where his spectacular career began.
Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty is proud to announce that it has closed on a one-of-a-kind property that highlights this legend’s career. Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty Agents Frank Aazami and Bill Ramseyer sold the 5,270-square-foot home at 37251 N. Nighthawk Way in Carefree for $3,400,000.
Gerry Jones’ illustrious career spanned over 65 years and designed approximately 328 homes. With speculation that this could be one of his last custom creations, this sale is considered incredibly special therefore there is an added treat. This home is a spec home and represents one of only three spec homes he has made in that 65+ year career. Jones’ goal with the Nighthawk home was to include a combination of custom features, quality of construction materials, design characteristics, and orientation of the home on a hillside lot. These characteristics became the hallmarks of the other 325 custom homes he created for his clients.
Agent Frank Aazami said this about the landmark sale, “Nighthawk was in fact the highest-priced home sold per square foot within Carefree. We attribute this milestone accomplishment to Gerry Jones and Tim Larson with La Casa Builders for imagining and building this signature home. In this case, they have proven it with a timeless design coupled with quality construction that can yield the highest sale and reason for a toast. This home will outlast many generations to come.”
Gerry Jones was born in Indiana in 1924 and served in Okinawa in the Pacific theater in WWII as a Marine. He also served in the Korean War, and first became interested in architecture while in China, where he witnessed monasteries built into the mountainsides. That love of extreme architecture never left him, as he taught extreme mountainous terrain architecture at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West for 17 years.
Carefree Founders K.T. Palmer and Tom Darlington asked Jones to lay out the roads and lots of the original town between 1957 and 1959. His first home was built in the Town of Carefree in 1959 on a 2.5-acre improved lot at a cost of $1,700 (today’s value of the lot would be about $850,000), a home that Carefree Councilmember Vince D’Aliesio now lives in with his family. He documented guidelines and created rules for development that eventually would become part of the Maricopa County Hillside Ordinance. Jones believed in designing homes that exceeded code requirements and therefore last for generations. His design and construction process blends with the natural flow of the terrain, a design characteristic he likes to call “Southwestern Textural”.
Jones’ 328 homes are spread throughout Arizona, Carmel, Maui, Nevada, Portland, and Palm Springs. Some of the homes he has designed and built in the Valley area can be found in Camelback, Mummy Mountains, Pinnacle Peak, Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Clearwater Hills, and Cave Creek.
The smallest home he designed and built was a 1,500-square-foot Honeymoon Cottage on 17 acres in Carefree. The largest home was 26,000 square-foot masterpiece that he built at a cost of $52 million. Among his clientele are celebrities, athletes, corporate executives, and international clients. 140 of his career 328 homes are built in Carefree and 17 of them are built on Black Mountain.
We invite you to watch this video where he tells the story about his process. Take this virtual tour and see for yourself just how special this property is now and will always be.
