Randall and Harriet Fawcett were introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture while students at Stanford University. A decade later, they asked him to design a house for them near Los Banos.

It was finished in 1961. The Fawcetts raised a family in the house, farmed the adjoining 80 acres and then died. Their daughters have now put the house up for sale - for $2.7 million.

Wright didn't build many houses in the Valley, and he wasn't particularly excited about the prospect of this one. Thumbing through photographs of the area, he told Randall Fawcett, "Not much beauty there."

Fawcett replied: "Actually, Mr. Wright, the Central Valley of California contains the most fertile agriculture land in the world. you should consider it an honor to build a house there."

So, he did. The orchards provided a never-ending supply of firewood, so he built a fireplace that was 12 feet high and six feet wide. The roof pitches up to frame the Coast Range while the house manages to blend in with the earth - a nod to the family's farming heritage, says Crosby Doe, the real estate agent.

Doe, of Beverly Hills, said the house would make a good private retreat or arts center. Doe specializes in the sale of artistic and historic properties.