On the drive that leads to movie producer Peter Guber’s mountain get-away, the aspen leaves jingle like gold coins in the breeze. It’s a special effect that furthers the notion that in Aspen, money grows on trees. It better, because local real estate firm Coates, Reid, Waldron just sold Guber’s Mandalay Ranch—all 65 stunning acres—to a local philanthropic family for $46 million. 

Guber, whose credits include the Oscar winner Rain Man, Flashdance, The Color Purple, Batman, Sleepless in Seattle and Philadelphia, has enjoyed Mandalay Ranch’s fresh air for 18 years. “It’s been a central part of our lives,” he says. “We have spent every holiday here. My kids learned to ski here, to hike, to bicycle. It’s been the foundation of our family.”(Click image to enlarge)

With the snow-capped ski resorts of Buttermilk Mountain and Snowmass in the distance and two gurgling creeks on the property, the 15,000-square-foot home, named after Guber’s multimedia company, is as rugged as the Rockies. Surrounded by virgin forests and meadows, the home exudes strength—in drama, heft and hue. Massive timbers anchor the walls, which are lit with iron sconces and antler-style chandeliers. Smooth river rock forms fireplace mantles. Plaids, stripes and chevrons lend visual appeal to bed linens and hand-loomed throws.

While Mandalay is pleasantly remote, it’s only a nine-minute drive to downtown Aspen. And whenever Peter and his wife of almost 40 years are in town, the home is packed with people. “We wanted a big family-friendly house where you can put your feet up on the furniture,” he says. That philosophy of putting family first necessitated a kitchen expansion, as well as the addition of a playroom, an indoor basketball court and a screening room that’s used for both business and pleasure.

Peter Guber’s private screening room evokes images of the Wild West. Massive timber beams bring a touch of Aspen indoors. The bright hand-loomed throws and accent pillows lend a touch of color. The comfy leather chairs are custom creations that mimic one of Guber’s favorite chairs. For a touch of Tinseltown, several outtakes from Guber’s film work dot the walls, which are dressed in raw stretched silk. (Click images to enlarge)

The home theater brings Aspen’s rugged beauty indoors, and the illusion is back-lot brilliant: Tree trunks pared of bark and branches frame the screen and intersect with perpendicular beams overhead. Rows of sofas and roomy armchairs are upholstered in soft-as-flannel Nubuck leather. Black-and-white photos of some of Guber’s film work adorn the walls that are bathed in stretched raw silk. It’s a room as evocative as a movie set.
The idea for the theater came from a hole in the ground. Literally. After Aspen-based architecture firm Bill Poss + Associates renovated the kitchen and dining areas, Guber made a last-minute request for 2,000 square feet of office space. During the excavation process, crews had to dig deeper than expected to find suitable support. The resulting hole sparked the idea of an underground home theater. “I could watch movies on the kitchen’s 17-inch screen,” Guber says. “But it’s my profession, so I wanted to watch them in a theater, where you have a screen that dominates the room. The theater gives me the opportunity, with stadium seating and perfect sound, to evaluate a film as a professional.”

Just one glance at movie producer Peter Guber’s Mandalay Ranch vacation home and it’s clear that the mountain lodge look, sprinkled with touches of South- western design, reigns supreme. The 15,000-square-foot home is furnished with masculine leathers, animal pelts, rough-hewn wood and New Mexican and Native American artifacts, as well as sculptural pieces the homeowner has collected through the years. (Click image to enlarge)

Strongly Southwestern in theme, the home is accented with pelts, rough-hewn wood and New Mexican and Native American artifacts. Huge timbers frame the space. But the design element presented a challenge to custom installer Electronic Systems Consultants (ESC) of Aspen, Colo. Whenever a film’s volume was cranked up, the logs vibrated, also rattling the office overhead. To prevent this from happening, ESC installed an architectural acoustical device to isolate the vibrating mechanical equipment from the ceiling beams.

The office’s electric radiant heating system would have also caused problems. To protect the theater from electromagnetic radiation, ESC added a lead composite shield to the ceiling. “[Electric radiant heating] is a giant frequency generator,” says Anson Fogel, ESC’s chief operating and technology officer. “It puts out all kinds of radio-frequency interference.”
To further contain the theater’s sound, the architects suspended the ceiling from springs, which allow the drywall to vibrate on its own without rattling the room itself. Acoustic mats beneath the office’s wood floor serve as a buffer, blocking out the sound of footsteps for those who are watching a film.

To accommodate Guber’s request for seating for 18, Fogel suggested using high-end residential furniture and beanbags for additional guests. Local interior designer Katherine Hansel-Lock of K.B. Hansel Interiors Inc. recommended locally made Nubuck sofas and chairs, which mimic the look of one of Guber’s favorite chairs. Ottomans are trimmed with “miles and miles” of nail-tacked leather fringe, Hansel-Lock says. Cleats, which strap permanently to the concrete floor beneath the sand-colored Berber carpeting, are built into the seating bases in accordance with fire safety regulations. Walls are upholstered in raw silk, which Hansel-Lock selected for its rugged richness and ESC approved for its sound permeability. “The theater has the right feel for a western media room, and Peter has a love for the West,” the designer says. “He has a high appreciation for the local environment and for what the West represents to him. He brought his film industry to Colorado, and he’s merging these things in his home.”

Guber, meanwhile, has purchased a 200-acre property on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, which he calls his “little piece of paradise, guarded zealously like Aspen.” Selling Mandalay has been a bittersweet event. After all, it’s been a source of intellectual, emotional and spiritual renewal for the homeowner.

“I don’t believe in owning something,” Guber says. “It’s a fiction made up by people. The Indians are right: Nobody owns the land. You just have the rights to it in exchange for bartering on some piece of paper. You’re a caretaker, a guardian, that’s all.”