One of the few Marin residences designed by Bernard Maybeck, the famed Beaux Arts architect behind the Palace of Fine Arts, is hitting the market this week. The chalet-style estate is asking nearly $13 million just 10 months after it last sold to a hedge fund manager for $10.65 million, according to public records. 

The uptick of more than $2 million on 126 Winding Way in Ross is a reflection of the supercharged market, especially as priced-out San Francisco home shoppers have rediscovered the value in Marin, according to listing agents Margot Edde and David Cohen of City Real Estate.

They gave The Standard an exclusive look before the home hit the market Tuesday. These images are likely the closest most people will get to the hillside home, which is available only for private showings to qualified buyers.

Maybeck homes are more common in Berkeley, where he lived while teaching at the University of California and helping to design the campus. He ventured to the North Bay to build the wood-shingled home on a commission from a lumber baron in 1906, a few years before Ross, which has fewer than 800 homes, was officially incorporated. Maybeck chose the 1.24-acre site because it allowed him to situate the home for maximum views of Mount Tamalpais with a minimal climb into the hills, the agents said. 

Twenty years later, the owners retained Maybeck again to build a reception hall for their daughter’s wedding at the home. After a major 2012 renovation, that space is now a primary suite, with the original 7-foot-high gas fireplace, a walk-in closet and dressing room, and a bathroom with a soaker tub, sauna, private patio, and spa. 

“I walk into houses all day long, and this one, I didn’t even have words,” Cohen said. “To have a fireplace that’s taller than I am in your primary bedroom is so rare, and it gives such scale to the home.” 

There are five bedrooms and 4.5 baths in all, with more than 5,500 square feet of interior space. The facade is original, except for where a family room was added during the renovation. Outdoor amenities include a motor court, another spa, a pool, and an original wood-burning fireplace. The former owners balanced their modern additions with the restoration of the charming Maybeck details, like redwood walls and wood-latticed windows. The combination is hard to find in Marin, Edde said.

“Houses that are usually nicely done tend to be more cookie-cutter, and houses that are really old tend to be falling apart,” she said. The Winding Way home “hits that sweet spot of old and full of character, but totally redone.” 

Though the current owners bought the house 10 months ago, before that they had been renting it, the agents said. They are downsizing to a smaller spot in Ross as they spend half their time on the East Coast for work.

Edde, who lives in Ross, imagines two main buyer pools: families who are “disappointed or disenfranchised” by the bidding wars and high prices in San Francisco and want to take advantage of Ross’ top-tier public schools, and those looking for a weekend or vacation home who could be lured by the proximity to both wine country and the city.

“It’s really well suited as a home in a portfolio where somebody says, ‘I want to have a spot in Northern California where I can easily get to the airport and I can easily get to dinner at a wine cave,’” she said.