Now Here’s How To Do Up an Eichler!

March 10, 2007

There are Eichlers, and then there are Eichlers…

Newcomers to the San Francisco Bay Area real estate scene get introduced to the Eichler scene fairly quickly. Joseph Eichler was a mass-scale builder in the 1950’s and 1960’s, constructing over 10,000 homes in the Bay Area. There are entire neighborhoods in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and other nearby cities in which nearly every home is an Eichler!

Originally characterized by walls of windows, gently sloping roofs, radiant heating, and entrance atria, there are many nearly original Eichlers left, but many more which have been remodeled. (Click here for more information on the Eichler phenomenon.)

Most newcomers either love ‘em or hate ‘em, but once you’ve been here a while, you can’t help but fall in love with their distinctiveness. You walk into an Eichler, and though you know just what to expect, you’re often pleasantly surprised at the owner’s creativity in doing it up.

Such was the case with 1030 Harriet Street in Palo Alto, a listing brought to market by none other than Coldwell Banker’s Dante Drummond. It was the first property I saw on tour yesterday, and I found myself wishing I didn’t have to hurry on to the next one.

You wouldn’t know from the outside…

1030 Harriet Street, Palo Alto, CA

…that a large open atrium awaited you, partly open to the sky, with lush foliage.
1030 Harriet Street, Palo Alto, CA

After wading through the crowd of caffeine-deficient Realtors crowding around the coffee bar, I made my way to the kitchen and living room…

1030 Harriet Street, Palo Alto, CA1030 Harriet Street, Palo Alto, CA

…and finally outside, where a nice backyard and pool awaited.

1030 Harriet Street, Palo Alto, CA

Want to see it for yourself? There’s an open this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday from 1:30pm to 4:30pm.

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Written by Kevin · Filed Under Architectural Styles, Coldwell Banker, Consumer, Dante Drummond, Eichler, Joseph Eichler, Palo Alto, Real estate 

Comments

2 Responses to “Now Here’s How To Do Up an Eichler!”

  1. Ron Ares on March 10th, 2007 10:43 pm

    Your Eichler post caught my eye. The Portland area has relatively few examples of modern homes, but they are all the rage among the design crowd here.

    In fact, a local home tour, The Street of Eames (a play on the Street of Dreams luxury home tour and the Ray & Charles Eames design group), blew through all their tickets in just a weekend, leaving many modern home enthusiasts with Craigslist as their only hope for tickets.

    Details here.

  2. mike simonsen on March 13th, 2007 1:32 pm

    Beautiful property. Eichler did more for bringing the beautiful California outside in than any other single builder.

    The only thing I’d like to see different is to dump the dark stained front door. This baby needs a primary color. maybe bright green. with a brushed nickel knob. (well I’d rip out the junipers too.)

    Not that I have an opinion on the Eichlers…

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