Falcon Nest is a detached residence in

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, r ...

, that is the tallest single family home in North America at . Its name is attributed to its resemblance to a large mountainside bird's nest and the

peregrine falcons The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underpa ...

that inhabit the area. It is located in

Yavapai County Yavapai County ( ) is a county near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott. Yavapai County comprises the Pr ...

, approximately a two-hour drive northwest of Arizona's capitol, Phoenix.

History

Thumb Butte, at Prescott's west side, in June 2007. The home is in size and was designed by Phoenix architect Sukumar Pal for himself. It was built in 1994 at a cost of approximately $3.5million and is located on the slopes of Thumb Butte, a prominent geographical feature of the

Sierra Prieta The Sierra Prieta is a longArizona Road & Recreation Atlas, Benchmark Maps, c. 1998, pp. 74–75. mountain range in central-northwest Arizona. The range is the mountainous region west of Prescott, Arizona, Prescott, with prominent Thumb Butte, , ...

mountain range in the

Prescott National Forest The Prescott National Forest is a 1.25 million-acre (510,000 ha) United States National Forest located in north central Arizona in the vicinity of Prescott. The forest is located in the mountains southwest of Flagstaff and north of Phoenix ...

and a popular hiking venue with trails that ascend and encircle the butte, a

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...

. According to Pal, since the house is below the summit of the butte, Falcon Nest was an appropriate name as falcons typically nest at lower elevations than

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

s, who take the highest perches. The elevation at the base of the house is approximately .

Configuration

Although the house is relatively large, its foundation is a square measuring ; its size is spread vertically over ten stories. Much of the main floor extends out from the core of the structure similar to large fully enclosed

balconies A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

on four sides. This area is built as a

solarium Solarium may refer to: * A sunroom, a room built largely of glass to afford exposure to the sun * A terrace (building) or flat housetop * The '' Solarium Augusti'', a monumental meridian line (or perhaps a sundial) erected in Rome by Emperor Aug ...

with glass walls and roof. It includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a great room. A third bedroom and two additional bathrooms are on other levels. The house is in height. Although local

zoning codes In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a ...

do not normally allow homes of this height, the lowest two floors are considered

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

levels, three floors are livable space, and the remainder is a natural convective cooling and

passive solar In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...

heating system. A

hydraulic elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems such ...

provides access to the main level on the sixth floor from the ground level. Stairs, 135 in total, are used to access the upper floors and as an alternative to the elevator. This house is actually much shorter than the world's tallest, the approximately tall Antilia in

South Mumbai South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahalaxmi (Western side), Byculla ...

, India. Falcon Nest is built upon natural granite, held in place by

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

without other physical attachment. Pal claims this will minimize damage in the event of

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

activity.

Location

Hundreds of sites were considered before Pal chose the Thumb Butte location. The approximately site allowed for views for long distances in many directions, and regulations in other areas precluded building such a structure. Opposition to the project caused Prescott's zoning laws to be changed; the house could not be built today. After construction, Prescott amended its zoning to restrict height to from the lowest natural grade on the building's perimeter. Views extend to and include the

San Francisco Peaks The San Francisco Peaks (Navajo: , , Hopi: ''Nuva'tukya'ovi'', Western Apache: ''Dził Tso'', Keres: ''Tsii Bina'', Southern Paiute: ''Nuvaxatuh'', Havasupai-Hualapai: ''Hvehasahpatch''/''Huassapatch''/''Wik'hanbaja'', Yavapai: ''Wi:mun Kwa'', ...

, Humphrey's Peak, and

Bill Williams Mountain Bill Williams Mountain is a peak and lava dome volcano located about west of Flagstaff and south of Williams, Arizona in the Kaibab National Forest. It is named for Old Bill Williams, a scout, guide, and mountain man, who lived in the 1800s. ...

. The property's western border abuts the Prescott National Forest.

Sale

The house was listed for sale in 2015 for $2.8million, and again in 2017 for $1.5million. In addition to its use as a home, it was marketed as a potential educational, office, museum, lodging, or event space. After a failed attempt was to sell the house by auction in May 2017, it was relisted for $2.8million as was still for sale as of August 2017. The house was sold on March 29, 2018, for $755,000 to astrologer Ernst Wilhelm and artist Srishti Wilhelm for both living and office use.

In media

The home was featured on ''

Extreme Homes Extreme may refer to: Science and mathematics Mathematics *Extreme point, a point in a convex set which does not lie in any open line segment joining two points in the set *Maxima and minima, extremes on a mathematical function Science *Extremop ...

'' on the

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

network in 1994. It was featured as "House of the Day" in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' on May6, 2015. The April 2017 issue of ''greenliving AZ'' included an article on the house.

Notes

References

{{reflist , 30em, refs= {{cite news, last1=Efrein, first1=Max, title=Tallest home a hard sell in Prescott, url=https://www.dcourier.com/news/2017/apr/08/tallest-home-hard-sale/, access-date=April 9, 2017, work=The Daily Courier, date=April 8, 2017 {{cite book, title=Arizona Road & Recreation Atlas, pages=74–75 {{cite news, last1=Efrein, first1=Max, title=Tallest home in America, located in Prescott, now for sale, url=https://www.dcourier.com/news/2015/may/01/tallest-home-in-america-located-in-prescott-now-f/, access-date=April 9, 2017, work=The Daily Courier, date=May 1, 2015 {{cite news, title=Building height rules pose problem; Prescott planners study definitions, requirements, url=https://www.dcourier.com/news/2000/jul/31/building-height-rules-pose-problem-prescott-plann/, access-date=April 9, 2017, work=The Daily Courier, date=July 31, 2000 {{cite news, title='Falcon's Nest,' a 124-Foot-Tall Home in Arizona, Is for Sale, url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/falcons-nest-a-124-foot-tall-home-in-arizona-is-for-sale-1430926134, access-date=April 9, 2017, work=Wall Street Journal, date=May 6, 2015 {{cite web, title=Falcoln Next, url=http://uncrate.com/article/falcon-nest/, website=uncrate.com, access-date=April 9, 2017 {{cite news, last1=Ro, first1=Lauren, title=Arizona's 'Falcon's nest,' designed by Sukumar Pal, asks $1.5M, url=http://www.curbed.com/2017/3/8/14860748/sukumar-pal-falcon-nest-home-prescott-arizona-homes-for-sale, access-date=April 9, 2017, work=Curbed, date=March 8, 2017, archive-date=April 16, 2017, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416221100/http://www.curbed.com/2017/3/8/14860748/sukumar-pal-falcon-nest-home-prescott-arizona-homes-for-sale, url-status=dead {{cite news, last1=Reagor, first1=Catherine, title=Home billed as world's tallest for sale in Prescott, url=http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-reagor/2017/03/23/home-billed-worlds-tallest-sale-prescott-arizona/99514814/, access-date=April 9, 2017, work=The Arizona Republic, date=March 22, 2017 {{cite web, title=Falcon Nest, url=http://luxuryhomes.com/lh/listing/United_States/Arizona/Prescott/Falcon_Nest, website=LuxuryHomes.com, access-date=April 9, 2017 {{cite news, last1=Sunnucks, first1=Mike, title=Phoenix architect puts tallest house in US up for sale, url=http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2015/04/24/phoenix-architect-puts-tallest-house-in-us-up-for.html, access-date=April 9, 2017, work=Phoenix Business Journal, date=April 23, 2015 {{cite web, last1=Heath, first1=Olivia, title=This is the 'tallest house in the world' – and it could be yours for £1.2 million, url=http://www.housebeautiful.co.uk/lifestyle/property/news/a1502/tallest-house-in-the-world-falcon-nest/, website=housebeautiful.co.uk, access-date=April 9, 2017 {{cite web, last1=Morton, first1=Jamey, title=Falcon's Nest, the Tallest Home in North America, Is for Sale, url=http://www.homes.com/blog/2016/11/falcons-nest-tallest-home-north-america-sale/, website=homes.com, access-date=April 9, 2017 {{cite web, title=Falcon Nest, url=https://www.nytimes.com/real-estate/usa/az/prescott/homes-for-sale/2365-skyline-dr/2836-xfy6pj , work=New York Times, access-date=April 9, 2017 {{cite web, title=Welcome to our April issue!, url=https://greenlivingaz.com/current-issue/, website=greenlivingaz.com, access-date=April 9, 2017 {{cite web, last=Brown, first=David, title=Prescott's Palsolaral House Shines: The Towering Achievement of Falcon Nest, url=https://greenlivingaz.com/prescotts-palsolaral-house-shines-towering-achievement-falcon-nest/, website=greenlivingaz.com, access-date=April 16, 2017 {{cite web, title=Area Closures Coming Soon to Granite Mountain and Thumb Butte Provides Seasonal Peregrine Falcon Nesting Habitat, url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/prescott/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD490070, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416131510/https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/prescott/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD490070, url-status=dead, archive-date=April 16, 2017, publisher=USDA Forest Service, Prescott National Forest, access-date=April 16, 2017 {{cite news, title=Arizona home billed as world's tallest family house back on the market for $1.5M, url=https://ktar.com/story/1502598/arizona-home-billed-worlds-tallest-family-house-back-market/, access-date=April 16, 2017, work=KTAR News, date=March 23, 2017 {{cite web, title=Yavapai County Interactive Map, url=http://gis.yavapai.us/v4/, website=gis.yavapai.us, access-date=April 16, 2017 {{cite web, title=Thumb Butte, AZ part of Prescott National Forest, US Forest Service, url=https://www.recreation.gov/camping/thumb-butte/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70483, website=recreation.gov, access-date=April 16, 2017 {{cite news, last1=Reagor, first1=Catherine, title=Prescott home billed as world's tallest fails to draw winning bidder at auction, url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-reagor/2017/07/27/prescott-home-falcon-nest-billed-worlds-tallest-fails-sell-auction/517291001/, access-date=December 17, 2017, work=AZ Central, date=Jul 27, 2017 {{cite news, title=Yavapai County Map, url=https://gis.yavapaiaz.gov/v4/map.aspx?search=111-05-001a/, access-date=August 30, 2024, work=Yavapai County Map, date=March 29, 2018

External links

Falcon Nest Luxury Home, Prescott Arizona
Yavapai County, Arizona Prescott, Arizona Tourist attractions in Yavapai County, Arizona Houses in Yavapai County, Arizona Houses completed in 1994 1994 establishments in Arizona