Residential

Coppola Residence

Client: Coppola-Niebaum Winery
Location: Napa Valley, California
Geography: Hardiness Zone 9b
Type: Residential

Project Requirements

In 1887, Gustave Niebaum, a retired sea captain from Finland, fell in love with Napa and built the Inglenook winery and a stately Victorian-style house. The house featured a circular drive anchored by a magnificent Valley Oak. Over the years the house fell into disrepair and the tree, damaged by a storm, fell into the house. When Francis Ford Coppola purchased the property, he set out to restore the residence to its past glory and asked Environmental Design to find a replacement tree.

Project Process

Environmental Design located a tree in the nearby vineyard of the same size and species, Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) and developed a plan for moving this 250,000 pound load through the vineyard.

Project Solution

After carefully root pruning the tree and encapsulating the root ball, the tree was lifted onto transports and slowly moved through the vineyard to the central position in front of the restored Victorian mansion.

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