Under its terra cotta tile roof, this 5,400-square-foot Tuscan-style home stretches out on its hill-top site in chunky, well-proportioned cubes. The marbled exterior stucco and carriage-house-style garage doors add to the Old World appearance. The scent of rosemary, that quintessential Mediterranean herb, greets you as plump rosemary bushes flanking the front walkway stir in the breeze.
But step inside and there’s no mistaking you’re in the desert West—MonteBella subdivision in Rio Rancho, to be precise. An 18-foot wall of windows on the east side of the great room barely contains the panorama of big sky country and the Sandia Mountains breaching out of the plains like whales on an ocean wave.

That’s how Dawn Davide likes to do things—in a big way. First it was owning a luxury salon on Wall Street in the late ’80s. Then it was returning to New Mexico, where she and her large extended family have lived since Dawn was a child, to try her hand at home building. When the second home she built snagged the 1999 Homes of Enchantment Parade Silver Award in the $325,000–$379,900 category, “I knew we were on to something,” she says. A Rising Star award from her peers and a People’s Choice pick followed, along with 40 more residential projects. In 2002 Davide opened La Bella, a luxury day spa/salon on Albuquerque’s Westside. “It will never fly, not here, not now,” said the 15 bankers who turned her down for financing; they dined on humble pie at the standing-room-only grand opening. Since then, the spa has done brisk business. Currently Davide has 11 homes and 15 luxury four-plexes under construction. Oh, and she plans to design and build a boutique hotel and five-star restaurant next door to the spa.

But Brooklyn-born Davide is quick to say she’s no one-woman band. Her subcontractors and suppliers have been with her since the beginning of her home-building career, as has foreman Jim Prinzo. “I couldn’t have done it without him,” says Davide of the master carpenter and builder, who also hails from Brooklyn and has been an honorary member of the Davide clan for decades. “Dawn waves her hands and I put up sticks to hold up her dreams,” Prinzo laughs.

The dream of the MonteBella Parade home doesn’t end with the dramatic view. The great room continues to soar with 14-foot beamed ceilings and a massive, roughly textured fireplace. Light plays off the gleaming wood floor, made of reclaimed hickory that ripples like water. The expansive sliding glass doors open onto a deep portal perfect for entertaining; the outdoor BBQ center features a Viking range, refrigerator, and bar.