Looks just like the pics Bob! Great floor plan. We will have a bit more room for cars and such in the 20x40 "shed" so the garage won't be part of the layout.

You guys, will be turning your home into a museum someday! Well, maybe your kids!

 

Ha! That's the plan!

Some of these houses have been badly remodelled. We found the most original one we could and we're working on returning it to it's original appearance. It's kinda like living in a classic car.

 

I grew up in an Eichler. Built in 64 and moved in when I was 10 months old! My folks just sold it.... It was in the Stanford Faculty Ghetto....

Because of growing up there, I love open floorplans, long sightlines, and lots of glass! My wife, not so much...... But she's forgiving, and while we don't live in an Eichler now, we do have.....

An open floor plan...
Long Sightlines.....
Lots of glass!

It's funny that Eichlers weren't very popular when they were built, but just go see how much they sell for in Palo Alto now!

Matt

And Clo, I guess for you, more is more!

 

Wow, I bet your parents did pretty well selling that place. Do you have any color pictures of what it originally looked like?

 

They paid $34k in 64 on a 4% mortgage.

They added a pool, and the original carport was converted to a multipurpose room with a new carport added on. Sold for $1.4 million! I'll see what I can find... But most of the photos from way back were B/W....

One of th nice features (at least that I liked) was that the atrium was all glass on three sides, huge panes that you just can't do anymore, and the front door didn't walk right into the atrium. In any room that faced the atrium, you could see through the whole house!

Matt

 

Sold for $1.55M Yikes! There are a few views linked here...

http://www.trulia.com/property/666554/

Matt

 

That's a beautiful place! Did your parents know what they were buying back then, or did they just stumble upon it?

 

but they didn't know it would become somewhat of a cult. Lots of the homes around there were Eichlers. It was a semi-custom build. The hill over there were lots too, but most of then were two or three floorplans mixed up on the same street, or mirror images (one with garage on left, next one with garage on right...)

Matt

 

It's not a cult; it's a religion. Like Scientology.

That's how our neighborhood is: A tract with a half-dozen or so styles.

Funny thing is, growing up in Michigan, I thought all California houses were modern, with big glass walls. When I moved here, I was disappointed by all the Victorians, etc., until I found the Eichlers.

 

Oh yeah....the thing is, when you are a mixed-media collage/assemblage artist, it's hard to toss things that you may make art out of....

 

My wife makes similar excuses for saving old wrapping paper (she's not an artist, but gift occations always come up!). Funny thing is, when we got married and I moved her stuff out of a storage locker, she was paying to store wrapping paper that she'd bought on sale! And we found speculative gifts that were new in box, that she'd forgotten ever buying....

But if it works for you, run with it!

Matt

 

I just wanted to clarify something here.
I'm a draftsman, I design homes.
I work with interior designers. I do the boring stuff, they get to go shopping!
Even though I'm burned out with "design" sh..stuff by evening, I'll lurk here.

 

I don't want to be reminded of the cookie cutter escapade!

Maybe you could help with a few of the design tweeks we're doing. Are you independent?

 

I'm self-employed, for 25 years. Think I need an excuse to motor for a site visit? And I don't like cookie-cutter designs!

 

I was hired to draw plans to fix this. The county "caught" the owner building without a permit, using an unlicensed so-called builder.
This house has been a joke since new, it's a pressure treated wood foundation!

 

So no matter what, you're designs will shine by comparison!

As for Mud-Sill foundations, I had a home in San Jose that was made (at least the front two rooms) in 1898! It was all built on wood that was layed on the dirt. Some good, very old redwood! When we put a concrete foundation under the house, the 100+ year old redwood was just fine! And this is in termite land. I was very surprised.

In fact, it would have been fine but a leaking pipe in the street in front of my house softened the dirt, and the house settled.

Matt

 

This is a great thread.
As an Architect and owner of a usonian house, I am always wondering about design in the minds of those who use it. Very interesting to find that there are others that enjoy what we do.
Funny also that Michelle Kaufman comes up as I graduated a year ahead of her at Iowa State.

 

Old growth redwood is naturally rot resistant. Pressure treated is a joke near dirt. Gee, was there a code 108 years ago?

 

but it was amazing to see just how resistant. Over 100 years, and no damage? Amazing. The crap redwood you buy now just gets eaten up. But the real purple/red redwood, never a bite!

And PT, I guess that the termites find the arsenic a source of a headache, but not much else....

Codes in 1898?, sure! "Do what you want, and make what you can!"

Matt

 

and I asked about buying an Eichler. (remember, this was in 1964). Seems my Mom knew all about Eichlers, and knew that's what she wanted. Well as they did research, they went to a big build then underway up in Marin to look at floorplans, and didn't see any that they liked. They worked directly with one of the Eichler architects, and modified a standard floorplan to suite their needs and wants (switched it left-right, added a higher peak to the roof, and added a room.

During building, there would be spurts of effort as one of the Eicher building teams would decend on the site, and work like crazy for a few days. Then go away. After a bit, the next team would decend. Mr Eichler even would come to pretty much every house as it was built, at one point or another.

All in all, it worked out very well. I asked about the neighborhood, and to the best of my folks recolection, about 20% of the homes in our developement were Eichlers, and almost all of those were customized in some way.

Also, there were some early problems that the folks avoided. Most notable was using cast iron for the slab heating. And I guess cast iron doesn't get along with concrete.... The house I grew up in had copper for the slab heating, and that lasted about 30 years or so. Eventually, it was repaired by sliding a plastice liner tube of some type in the copper, to seal any leaks. (Remember, these houses are near the San Andreas Fault, and some of the slabs got cracks over the years).

One other story they told me today. When I was real young, they tried to put a screen over the atrium to keep the bugs out. Well, it kept some of the bugs out, like the ones that eat mosquitos and the like! Also, the plants got much less happy without all the worker bugs being able to come and go as needed, so the screen lasted less than a season, and I remember that we had some bamboo-ish stuff that we strung over the bigger voids, to keep the sun levels down, but the bugs got to come and go as they pleased.

Just some more Eichler trivia for those that are interested.

Matt

 

Wow, a custom Eichler is something special. Why did your parents decide to sell, and what kind of place do they have now? I'd think after 40+ years in such a house, they'd have a hard time living in something less dramatic.

Early houses had galvanized pipes for the radiant heating and household water supply. These tended to decay and leak badly. By the early '60s they had switched to copper; ours is copper, although not without problems. The radiant still works, but much of the non-radiant water-supply pipes have been bypassed. Funny you bring it up, because I spent all of saturday fixing a previous-owner botched-up plumbing job. Actually, that's how I spend most of my time. ;-)

 

and the house is bigger than they needed, and like you know all too well, homes need maintenance. So they moved!

Now they live in a funky retirement home deal. I don't really know what to call it. They have an 1800 square foot apartment with a balcony in a building that can provide living assistance, if needed. It's quite a change, but I think they're happy with it. I spend some time helping out (today, I helped clean out there storage facility, put up some shelving in one of thier closets, and hooked up a fountain on their balcony.

It's very different thats for sure! But my dad is more active than he should be, and right now is recovering from a broken arm. Last deal was a pinched nerve in his back. Mom keeps plugging along....

I was a bit on the fence about the move. I kind of was hoping that they'd stay in thier house, and just get the help they needed as they needed it. But then again, Senior Care and the like can get very, very expensive. While the place they moved into wasn't cheap, it does somewhat cap future care expenses. My dad called it a gift to me and my sister....

The residence is still on Stanford land, near the Stanford Shopping Center. A lot of my dad's faculty buddies moved there as well. It's wierd listening to some of the dinner conversation.... One of the guys there used to be a Sectratary of Defence. Listening to his experinces being used for a Photo Op to show Bush listens to all was somewhat enlightening....

My aunt (Dad sister) just moved in as well. So that's good for dad.

But you're right, it is much, much different.

Matt

 

I have been accused of being gay before, because I subscribe to Dwell and Metropolitan Home. I guess a real guy only reads Sports Illustrated and USA Today.



H

 

... just got it for only $2 million!
No really, this is in Chino Valley. The land has just been graded, and streets are getting built around this old house. Bet it won't be in Dwell.