photography: Roger Davies
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Comstock would build more. Between 1925 and 1930 he built 15 to 20 additional storybook cottages, many in clusters to the east of downtown Carmel. Though the building boom of the 1920s demanded larger homes, Comstock insisted on using native chalk rock, wood, redwood shakes, and hand-carved timber and tile.The story doesn't end there, though the fairy tale did, for a while. The Great Depression reached even the best utopias and forced Comstock to consider more economical construction. So he transferred his inspiration from the English countryside to the Hispano-American adobe. It required only mud. Ever the innovator, Comstock devised a waterproof formula and built the first cottage with it in 1936. Rather than patenting the formula and technique, he shared the technology publicly so others could build affordable cottages with available materials. 
photography: Roger Davies
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More than 70 years later the story continues. Carmel has changed—more storybook for visitors than for the locals, some of whom lament the commercialization and chichi vibe brought in by more art collectors than artists. But the magic still exists down the narrow, sidewalk-less streets covered in tall pines and low cypresses that hide tiny cottages. They seem to have sprouted from the soil like bulbous mushrooms.Michele and Richard Ruble live in Comstock's old studio, where Mayotta remained for years after her husband's death. "We had both come to Carmel, independently, in the fifties and sixties, and it was this little village with people from all walks of life," says Michele. "It was low-key and unpretentious—and very artistic. Mrs. Comstock would have been living in this house at the time." In the late 1990s the couple, now married and retired, returned to Carmel to live. Comstock isn't very well known, so they didn't recognize the house for its designer like one might a Frank Lloyd Wright. "I just thought this house was neat and nice to be in," says Richard. "I already liked the culture of Carmel, and when I heard of Comstock, I had that much more respect for this house and its history." Though some of Comstock's fairy-tale cottages had deteriorated in previous decades, new ownership has infused a renewed pride in the legacy. "People comment on how great they remember the house looking," says Michele. "They'd always loved it and are grateful it has come back to life." Thus, the fairy tale lives on, happily ever after.
photography: Roger Davies
A paneled Dutch door lends a fairy-tale quality to Ober's, the house Comstock built for himself and wife Mayotta. |
More images of Carmel
Official travel site
Carmel's San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission | 
