NEAR the 18th hole of the Bighorn golf course in Palm Desert, publishing tycoon Duane Hagadone laid out his vision for a dream home to his architect. It would be set high on the bald mountain rising near the green yet be so inconspicuous that he'd have to point it out even to golf buddies.
Hagadone wanted "a residence that blends into the mountain, that is very subtle, not a pinnacle seen from all angles," his assistants explained to Palm Desert officials as they sought the go-ahead for the subsequent design.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday April 28, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
Palm Desert mansion: An article in the A Section on April 20 about a $30-million-plus mansion built in Palm Desert identified a Montana newspaper owned by the homeowner, Duane Hagadone, as the Hungry Horse. The newspaper is the Hungry Horse News.
The $30-million-plus home would feature a copper roof composed of "angles and curves" that mimicked the ridge of the mountain, while its rock walls would be molded from those on the hillside.
The spectacular architectural plans and model so dazzled city officials that they granted Hagadone an exemption from a preservation ordinance that caps hillside homes at 4,000 square feet. Hagadone wanted his castle to be eight times that size -- 32,016 square feet.
Before that vote in 2004, one City Council member envisioned write-ups "in every architectural magazine around the world"; another said he'd already inquired about using this "jewel in our crown" as a venue for fundraising events for the local theater. "We'll all be bragging about it," a third council member said.
Instead, the home has brought a load of grief for this city now that it is just about complete. Visible from miles away and set on a prominent ridgeline, its frame resembles a wayward space station parked amid the picturesque foothills.
Hagadone and his representatives declined interview requests. But upset residents have flooded the city with e-mails, branding the house "an unsightly scar on the hill," "a blight," "a monstrosity," "a pimple" and an "abortion" of city planning.
"We had an untouched ridgeline, untouched," lamented resident Larry Sutter.
Residents complained that their views of the Santa Rosa Mountains, which enfold the city like a clamshell, had been ruined. The bare, unlit peaks are lovely at dusk, silhouetted against the desert's twilight hues, and residents particularly dreaded how the house would look lighted up at night.
The outrage crescendoed last summer when city officials discovered that Hagadone had graded 64,000 square feet -- double what the city had approved -- to add unauthorized gardens, a sports court, koi pond and sidewalks.
Some residents demanded that Hagadone rip out unauthorized additions.
