Carmel Magazine

076-82 Carmel 100 Years_152-161 Garcia story 4/24/13 4:14 PM Page 5 C A R M E L R E A L T Y C O M PA N Y The Carmel Realty Company archives contain documents dating back to the company's earliest days. At the time, Carmel-by-the-Sea was an unincorporated area and agents helped clients find homes, establish farms and create businesses in the budding community. Letters requesting rent payments are written in formal, customer-centric English. Old photos show Carmel Realty's office a few doors down from its current location in the same building. This year, as the company celebrates a century in business, owners Dan and Shelly Mitchell Lynch make each decision with that rich history in mind. In 1905, artist Christian Jorgensen designed La Playa for his wife, as a family residence. The mansion, with its gorgeous gardens and ocean views, was expanded into a luxury hotel in 1916. The pink-hued hotel, remodeled in 2012, is a popular wedding location. "It is a responsibility that we take very seriously, because we respect the 100-year tradition and all the work that went into this amaz- Additional seismic retrofitting and restoration "The hotel has such history that you don't ing company," says Shelly Mitchell Lynch, a work that began at the mission in 2011 is sched- have to look far to find the character," says La fourth-generation real estate professional. Her uled to wrap up by this summer. Playa General Manager Mar y Crowe. "And family founded The Mitchell Group, and L A P L A YA H O T E L because it's only had five owners since con- expanded the real estate firm after purchasing struction, and it's always been privately held, it's Carmel Realty in the early 1990s. When really maintained a lot of that character." Sotheby's International Realty acquired The During 2012 renovations at La Playa Hotel, crews uncovered an old trunk under the 1905 structure. Research suggests that it belonged to a well-traveled military general who passed away in the 1930s. Previous owners of the hotel held on to other treasures, too, including newspaper clippings, portraits and a 1940s Christmas dinner menu that hotel managers hope to someday re-create. There are also collateral pieces from a honeymooners club that operated in the 1950s. Couples who married at La Playa received a certificate and a card that outlined rules for the groom on one side and rules for the bride on the other. Landscape ar tist Christian Jorgensen designed the mansion that's now the heart of La Playa as a gift to his wife, Angela, a member of the Ghirardelli family. After they sold the home, it was remodeled and reopened as a boarding house and then a hotel. Subsequent renovations preserved many of the property's historic features, including light fixtures, stained glass windows and turn-of-the-century tiles. 80 C ARMEL In 1913, Carmel Realty Company was created by the Mitchell family. Real estate in Carmel then primarily consisted of farms and cottages. Rent notes were hand-written. Shelly Mitchell Lynch keeps her business in the family, selling exclusive properties and managing luxury rentals. MAGAZINE•SPRING/SUMMER 2013

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