Hugh W. Comstock was an American designer and master builder who lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. He and Michael J. Murphy were responsible for giving Carmel its architectural character. Comstock developed a fairy tale or storybook architectural-style that has been closely identified with Carmel. Twenty-one of his cottages remain in the area today. Comstock also created a modern use of adobe in the construction known as "Bitudobe," a type of post-adobe brick.

Storybook architecture or fairytale architecture is a style popularized in the 1920s in England and the United States. Houses built in this style may be referred to as storybook houses.