68 DIGS.NET
| 10.29.2021
S W E E T D I G S | F LY I N G M A N E R O A D , R O L L I N G H I L L S
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SCEND UP THE verdant hills of picturesque
Crest Drive and near its highest point, turn onto
Flying Mane Road, a quiet cul-de-sac street found
in the leafy gated community of Rolling Hills. The
gentle air and majestic mix of blue sky, ocean and
abundant green landscape create an atmosphere of calm—a feel-
ing that builds as you turn into the driveway at the end of the street,
and see a crisp white home set against a lush lawn. This is reported
to be the highest-elevation single family residence on the Peninsula;
a place where an authentic Mid-Century home has been sculpted
to embrace this unique setting—so high it's above the fog line.
Longtime home of Dr. Godfrey Pernell and his family, the
three-bedroom and two-bathroom custom residence—warmly,
earthily elegant—was completed back in 1954. (Dr. Pernell,
who would serve multiple terms as mayor of Rolling Hills, and
his wife Beverly purchased the approximately 1.16-acre prop-
erty in 1950 after being driven to the remote site, where they
paced off the lot lines of their forever home.) Approximately
2,427 square feet, the residence was designed by local archi-
tect J. Richard Shelley, whose signature was Mid-Century
Modernism, and whose neatly executed works in this style
included the exclusive Long Beach Petroleum Club and the
Hyatt House Hotel at San Francisco Airport. Shelley's work
was prolific as a resort developer as well, with projects that
included the first hotel in Wailea (Maui), and the Nusa Dua
resort area of Bali.
