Robert Redford could have lived almost anywhere.
After decades as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men, the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Way We Were star had access to the kind of luxury most people can only imagine. Yet one of the places closest to his heart was never about marble floors, enormous gates or Hollywood glamour.
It was about mountains, pine trees, wood, stone and silence.
In the mountains of Utah, Redford created a world deliberately designed to feel as though human beings had barely disturbed it. Nearby stood another extraordinary mountain home belonging to the woman who would become his wife, German-born artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford.
Rare photographs from the properties reveal soaring wooden ceilings, enormous windows facing Mount Timpanogos, stone fireplaces, secluded decks and rooms filled with art.
But the story behind those images is even more remarkable: the landscape itself helped bring Robert and Sibylle together. Architectural Digest
Long Before Hollywood Fame, Redford Fell in Love With Utah
Redford’s connection with Sundance began decades before the film festival made the name famous.
As a young man, he passed through the canyon beneath Mount Timpanogos while traveling through the West. He returned to camp there and developed a deep attachment to its relatively untouched landscape.
In 1961, Redford and his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, purchased a modest two-acre parcel there. Redford later recalled that the property cost just $500. He built an early home on the land himself as a retreat for his young family. Architectural Digest
As his acting career exploded, he acquired additional acreage — but not simply because he wanted an enormous private estate.
Redford said his motivation was largely preservation.
He feared that uncontrolled development would eventually transform the canyon he loved.
That philosophy would eventually become one of the defining ideas behind Sundance: develop carefully and leave as much of the landscape alone as possible. Architectural Digest
His House Was Built Around the Landscape, Not Against It
Redford’s own longtime Sundance residence embodied that philosophy.
Architectural Digest described it as a solar house constructed primarily from wood, glass and fieldstone.
Instead of making the house itself the spectacle, the design turned attention outward.
Windows framed the mountains.
Natural materials echoed the surrounding canyon.
Fireplaces, artwork and sunlight organized the interior spaces.
Even the most luxurious feature wasn’t something that could be purchased or installed.
It was the view. Architectural Digest
Inside, There Was a Room Designed Simply for Thinking
Some of the details reveal just how differently Redford thought about a home.
There was a windowless music room inspired by the circular shape of a Pueblo kiva. It could be used for music, conversation or simply solitude.
A small round office occupied part of a stone tower.
And directly above it was what Architectural Digest described as Redford’s “thinking room.”
There was no telephone there. Architectural Digest
For an actor whose professional life involved movie sets, interviews, premieres and enormous public attention, creating a room where virtually nothing could interrupt him feels particularly revealing.
This wasn’t a celebrity house built to impress visitors.
It was somewhere to disappear.
His Extraordinary Art Collection Was Everywhere
Redford also filled his surroundings with art collected over decades.
He developed an extensive collection of Native American art and artifacts that eventually numbered more than 600 pieces. His interests ranged from historic textiles and pottery to contemporary works.
Some pieces remained in his residence, while others were displayed throughout public spaces at Sundance. Architectural Digest
Yet Redford resisted turning his home into a formal museum.
The pieces lived alongside everyday objects and personal possessions.
One particularly revealing description noted an Anasazi bowl displayed on a shelf with his Oscar for Ordinary People.
For Redford, the Hollywood trophy wasn’t necessarily the most important object in the room.
Then Another Artist Found Her Own Sanctuary Nearby
Years later, Sibylle Szaggars independently found her own piece of the same landscape.
The multimedia artist purchased a three-story mountain home in Sundance in the late 1980s — before she and Redford had met.
Her property sat only about a mile from Sundance Mountain Resort. Mansion Global
Built in 1988, the house was surrounded by Rocky Mountain pines and looked toward Mount Timpanogos.
It became far more than somewhere for Sibylle to sleep.
She used it as a creative retreat.
The mountains, weather and changing natural landscape became inspiration for her artwork and later for her environmental work. Mansion Global
The Living Room Is the Heart of the House
Step inside Sibylle’s mountain home and one feature immediately dominates the room.
The ceiling rises approximately 27 feet.
Below it sits a large wood-burning fireplace, while a dramatic wall of windows opens the interior toward the surrounding forest and mountains.
The effect is almost the opposite of a traditional mansion.
Rather than shutting nature outside, the glass makes the trees and sky feel like part of the room. Realtor
The materials reinforce that feeling.
Wood appears throughout the house, giving the interiors the warmth of a mountain lodge rather than the polished atmosphere of a celebrity estate.
And nearly every room was positioned to take advantage of views toward Mount Timpanogos. Realtor
The Home Has Four Bedrooms — but Its Art Spaces Tell the Real Story
The roughly 3,536-square-foot house contains four bedrooms and about five bathrooms across three levels.
Two guest bedrooms occupy the second floor, each with its own bathroom.
Downstairs, a separate guest wing includes its own entrance, kitchenette, living area, bathroom and private deck facing the pines.
But Sibylle frequently used the lower level as an artistic workspace. Realtor
The top level offered additional room for an art studio, yoga space or gym.
It is easy to understand why an artist would find inspiration there.
Outside the windows are mountain peaks, forests and dramatic seasonal changes.
Inside is a home deliberately quiet enough to notice them.
This Is Also Where Robert and Sibylle’s Story Began
The property’s location gives it another layer of significance.
Sibylle’s house sits close to the Sundance resort Redford developed.
And it was at Sundance that the two met in the 1990s. They eventually married in 2009. Realtor
That makes the mountain landscape almost a third character in their relationship.
Robert had been protecting and developing the area for decades.
Sibylle independently chose the same place as a creative sanctuary.
Both were artists.
Both cared deeply about the environment.
And both had found inspiration in essentially the same mountains before building a life together.
Their Relationship Was Never Built Around Hollywood
Sibylle was very different from the stereotype of a Hollywood partner.
Born in Germany, she built her own career as a multimedia environmental artist. Her work frequently examines nature, climate and humanity’s relationship with the planet.
Those interests overlapped naturally with Redford’s environmental activism.
Their shared concern for conservation eventually became part of their creative partnership as well.
Sibylle founded The Way of the Rain, an environmental arts nonprofit, while Redford supported her work. Their projects combined performance, music, visual art and environmental advocacy.
For a couple surrounded by celebrity, much of what bound them together existed far away from it.
Their Mountain Homes Reflected the Same Philosophy
Although Robert’s longtime residence and Sibylle’s cabin were separate properties, photographs reveal a striking visual kinship.
Neither attempts to overpower its setting.
Both rely heavily on wood.
Both make dramatic use of windows.
Both blur the boundary between indoor living and the landscape outside.
And both contain dedicated spaces for art and contemplation.
That wasn’t accidental.
Redford once described himself in relation to the land as more of a caretaker than a possessor. Architectural Digest
His larger approach to Sundance followed the same principle: architecture should disappear into the landscape rather than dominate it.
Sundance Eventually Became Much Bigger Than a Home
The two acres Redford bought in 1961 were only the beginning.
As his Hollywood career became more successful, he acquired more land in the area. In 1968, he purchased the small Timp Haven ski resort and renamed it Sundance. Mansion Global
Over time, Sundance became a resort, an artistic community and an important part of Redford’s cultural legacy.
His Sundance Institute helped nurture independent filmmakers, while the Sundance Film Festival became one of the most influential showcases for independent cinema in the world.
Yet Redford continued insisting that development should remain relatively restrained.
Buildings were constructed using native or reclaimed-looking materials and positioned to reduce their visual impact.
He wanted visitors to notice the mountain first.
He Eventually Sold the Resort — but Protected Part of the Land Forever
Redford sold Sundance Mountain Resort in 2020.
Yet his connection to preserving the land didn’t end there.
In 2022, the Redford family participated in establishing a conservation easement protecting 316 acres of Elk Meadows at Sundance from future development. The Salt Lake Tribune
The moment carried additional emotional significance because Redford read words written by his late son, James “Jamie” Redford, who died in 2020.
Preserving the landscape had become not simply Robert’s project, but part of the family’s legacy.
Sibylle Eventually Put Her Mountain Retreat on the Market
In 2024, another chapter began closing.
Sibylle listed her Sundance home for $3.995 million.
The sale included the house and an adjoining lot, bringing the property to approximately 1.43 acres. Mansion Global
The decision wasn’t presented as a rejection of the place.
Quite the opposite.
The home had been a source of inspiration for decades, but Sibylle was increasingly focusing her attention on her artistic and environmental projects elsewhere. People.com
The listing unexpectedly gave the public something rare: a detailed photographic look inside a private mountain sanctuary closely tied to the Redfords’ story.
10 Rare Views Reveal What Made the Place Special
The most revealing photographs aren’t necessarily the grandest ones.
One shows the towering living room with sunlight streaming through the wall of windows.
Another captures the enormous stone fireplace.
There is the warm wood kitchen and intimate dining area.
Bedrooms look toward trees rather than city skylines.
A deck disappears into the forest.
The guest wing feels like its own tiny mountain apartment.
Then there is Sibylle’s creative space — the room where the landscape outside became paintings and ideas.
And beyond all of it stands Mount Timpanogos.
These RARE PHOTOS explain something that square footage and real-estate prices can’t.
The luxury wasn’t really the house.
It was the ability to wake up surrounded by a landscape that still felt remarkably untouched.
Robert’s Own Sundance Home Was Even More Personal
Architectural Digest’s archival photographs of Redford’s residence offer another intimate look at his life in Utah.
His house contained Native American art, handmade furnishings, fireplaces and plants, but the rooms were intentionally arranged around natural light and outdoor views.
Outdoor pavilions gave his family places to sit and look across the canyon before winter snow buried them.
Even the cottages built elsewhere at Sundance followed his instruction to minimize their impact on existing vegetation. Architectural Digest
Redford’s design philosophy wasn’t about pretending civilization didn’t exist.
He wanted comfort and sophisticated facilities.
He simply believed architecture could coexist with wilderness without swallowing it.
The Mountain Became Part of His Identity
Eventually, separating Robert Redford from Sundance became almost impossible.
He made movies elsewhere.
He owned other properties, including homes in California and New Mexico.
He traveled constantly throughout his career.
But Sundance represented something different.
It was where a young man camped before he became a movie star.
Where he raised part of his family.
Where he collected art.
Where he built.
Where he created an institution that changed independent cinema.
Where he met Sibylle.
And ultimately, it was where Redford died in September 2025 at age 89, at his home in the Utah mountains and surrounded by loved ones, according to his publicist. Architectural Digest
That detail gives the old photographs a poignancy they didn’t originally possess.
A Home That Was Never Really About Showing Off
Hollywood homes are often fascinating because of what they contain: swimming pools, enormous closets, private theaters and extravagant décor.
The Redfords’ mountain world is fascinating for almost the opposite reason.
Its most important feature is everything surrounding it.
The trees.
The snow.
The cliffs.
The changing light.
The mountain visible through the windows.
Looking through the RARE PHOTOS of Robert’s longtime Sundance retreat and Sibylle’s nearby mountain house, it’s easy to understand why both artists were drawn to the same corner of Utah.
Robert Redford spent much of his life trying to preserve that feeling.
And decades after he first discovered the canyon as a young man, the place remained exactly what he had been searching for from the beginning:
somewhere that felt like home.
If you’re looking for more ways to embrace a natural lifestyle, consider the surprising health benefits of boiling guava leaves for tea or how cloves might help with congestion. And for those who enjoy a healthy drink, don’t miss learning about the side effects of beetroot juice before making it a daily habit.
