Grateful Dead Bassist’s Marin House Hits Market for $10.3 Million

April 28, 2016

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Phil Lesh, a founding member of both the Grateful Dead and Furthur, is a simple man at heart: All he needs is a bottle and a girl and a good case of Mexicali Blues, and also a seven-bedroom, five and a half bath, $10 million house in verdant Ross, California.

Actually, it seems he doesn’t need that last one anymore. The Bridge House (68 Bridge Road), Lesh’s Marin County home since 2002, is up for sale. He bought another Marin property not long ago, and because he knows not to be a collector of more than you need, he’s bidding farewell to the older home.

The 7,900-square-foot house circa 1906 was designed by Conrad Meussdorffer and lists for the tidy sum of $10.35 million. Lesh himself bought it for $9.35 million and could probably ask even more for it now; but since he knows that a selfish heart is trouble but a foolish heart is worse, he evidently decided to just put his money where his love is and not push it on the price tag.

Although the house shows no particular evidence of the Dead’s bohemian spirit in its design or staging, it is a lovely view of heaven nonetheless, with a two-plus acre back yard and landscaped driveway (gated, of course, because when life looks like easy street there’s danger at your door).

Original details like rock walls, pocket doors, oak flooring, and box beam ceilings recall the original Muessdorffer design, and there are enough windows that even a blind man knows when the sun is shining.

It’s not every day you get a beautiful home and a chunk of rock and roll history all rolled into one. If you can’t quite swing the down payment, just keep your day job ’till your night job pays.