Redwood Salvage Sales

Published in Robb Report Luxury Home Magazine, Summer 2006.
DESIGN Elements > Log Gems by Eric Hiss.

"I first got wind of it in a bar from some brothers who looked like they were straight out of ZZ Top," says Arky Ciancutti, a former emergency room physician who built the Brewery Gulch Inn in Mendocino, California.

Ciancutti is speaking of the legacy of the logging boom in the Mendocino area, which corresponds with the Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, when massive logs—some more than 16 feet in diameter—were transported to waiting ships via the Big River in massive flows set off by dynamiting temporary dams. "Sinkers" were logs that went straight down instead of finding their way to the river mouth, and were rumored to lie at the bottom like buried treasure for more than 100 years.

This "red gold" led Ciancutti and a partner to risk life and limb searching the cold currents of Big River for two years with nothing more than a rudimentary pontoon skiff and a 5-ton hand winch. The operation netted Ciancutti close to 120,000 board feet of the extraordinary, tight-grained wood, which had mineralized underwater to create exquisite patinas of blond, burgundy and deep cinnamon. Now he offers some through his company, Redwood Salvage Sales.

Designers and builders from as far away as Japan and Australia have acquired one-of-a-kind pieces for projects ranging from guitars to trophy homes, but perhaps the best showcase is Ciancutti's Brewery Gulch Inn. Located on an historic property that was Mendocino's first brewery, the 10-room inn utilizes the salvaged wood throughout, including the lobby's cathedral ceiling, paneled great room, beams, private decks and windows, which frame ocean views from what can only be described as the world's most exquisite treehouse. Prices vary from $6 to $20 per board foot.