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The result of years of meticulous planning and coordination, this 6,600-sq.-ft. single-level realizes Mel and Peg Babcock’s retirement dreams for a sophisticated Spanish farmhouse-theme hacienda. Backed by the chiseled Superstition Mountains, where legend says German émigré Jacob Waltz once protected a fabulous gold mine, their Western desert refuge abuts the sixth fairway of the Prospector golf course at the 927-acre gated community in Gold Canyon.

 Master Bedroom

“Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club offers a relaxed and active lifestyle with a very active social network,” says Peg, who like Mel, is a native of Angola, Ind., in the northern part of the state. “Our home offers us the best of what this community has to offer. We have spectacular mountain views, large outdoor entertaining areas where we can enjoy the wonderful climate and an interior that invites people to gather around for good food and good conversation.”

The Babcocks began meticulously planning their three-bedroom, six-bath home in February 2005 with Mesa-based Encore Design Group, whose affiliated Landmark Building Construction began work in May 2006 and delivered it in November 2007. Carol Buto Designs of Scottsdale completed the texturally rich Spanish Colonial/Old World interior a year later. “Our goal was a home that was comfortable and inviting,” explains Mel, a retired nuclear-weapons engineer. “We also wanted to create a home that was well laid out for entertaining local and out-of-town guests.” The couple worked most of their adult lives in Ohio—27 years in Dayton and 10 in Cleveland—before moving to Superstition Mountain.

Looking out over their pool and spa across the golf course and into the Superstitions, their home, on just less than an acre, has more than 11,000 square feet under roof, including a four-car garage and a large rear-yard entertaining area they designed to enjoy the winter months you can’t in Cleveland. Off the family room, the lifestyle patio has a fireplace and ceiling heaters for winter use, fans for the summer and a kitchen-rivaling barbecue ensemble. “One of our favorite moments was sitting outside on the patio on Christmas morning with our family who had just left a snowstorm in Indiana,” says Peg, who prefers the sun to snowflakes on the Superstition foothills. So, too, at night, she and Mel sit there or on the rooftop observation deck and watch the mountains, as the desert sky burns red at sunset. Often, they stay for the stars and city lights.