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The former personal residence of renowned local developer Joseph Eichler will soon be on the market, and you can check it out at an open house this weekend.
Eichler’s one-time home at 19 Irving Ave. in Atherton will be open March 16 and 17 from 1 to 4 p.m., according to an event listing on Patch.com, posted by Realtors Eric and Janelle Boyenga of The Boyenga Team.
The home, currently listed as “off market,” has an estimated value of $6.54 million, according to Zillow, and has been listed for sale only one time before, when Eichler sold it to the current owners’ parents in 1965.
Built in Atherton’s Lindenwood neighborhood in 1951, the 3,700-square-foot midcentury modern residence is considered among the most important homes of Eichler’s career. This was his first custom-built home working with architects Robert Anshen and Steve Allen and set the groundwork for what would evolve into the California modern post-and-beam homes known as “Eichlers.”
The five-bedroom home boasts a “unique V-shaped configuration and intriguing parallelogram-themed spaces,” integrated indoor-outdoor rooms and many details immediately recognizable as “Eichler” features, including a minimalist front facade, post-and-beam construction, floor-to-ceiling windows and radiant heating, according to Eric Boyenga, an Eichler specialist and member of the Eichler Network service team.
“This is an Eichler on steroids. It’s a spectacular house,” Eric Boyenga said. “Most Eichlers were very simplistic. Everything here is built custom.”
Every room, he said, has custom-built cabinetry and storage. The outside redwood siding is continued indoors as vertical-lined siding, and there is remarkable detailing, such the triangular motifs repeated throughout the house, including on the fireplace and skylights.
The Boyengas said they are optimistic about finding a buyer who appreciates the home’s historical value and is interested in preservation rather than just the value of the land. That’s why they’re opening the home to the public before it is listed on the market. The duo hopes that by exposing the home’s unique architectural features, they will attract buyers who will want to preserve the home.
The lots in Atherton are large and valuable, Janelle Boyenga said. A few years ago, another Eichler-built home on Irving Avenue across the street from this one was demolished to make way for a 6,444-square-foot home, which is now listed on the market for $14.95 million, according to Zillow.
“It’s sad that some people will just look at it for the land,” Eric Boyenga said.
The duo also has been talking with an architect who could work with the homebuyer on how to modernize or expand the kitchen and primary bedroom while maintaining the home’s integrity.
“The home has seen better days,” Janelle Boyenga said. “We’ve brought it back to its roots, and it needs to find someone who appreciates midcentury modern architecture and wants to work with it.”
A home custom-built for ‘Joe’
Many of the features found in Eichler’s Atherton home can be traced to architect Frank Lloyd Wright. During World War II, Eichler reportedly lived in a Wright-designed Usonian-style home in Hillsborough called the Bazett house, which ultimately inspired him to embark on a career building modern homes for the middle-class, according to the blog “Eichler’s Atherton Home.”
His Atherton home incorporated many of the design elements from Wright’s Bazett house, including its V-shaped configuration, indoor-outdoor orientation, built-in furniture and brick exterior, but Eichler’s home was much larger and featured more and bigger bedrooms that opened onto a landscaped yard with a swimming pool, according to the blog.
At the time of its construction, there were few, if any houses of its kind in Atherton. Local newspapers described the home as “ultramodern.”
“It’s a geometric house from its kitchen with twin Thermador ovens and twin refrigerators to the living room with a circular TV screen built in above the triangular hearth. Included is a putting green beside the swimming pool,” the Peninsula Times Tribune wrote in 1955.
The home is larger and features many more embellishments than his tract houses. But according to Eric Boyega, it represents the beginning of the Eichler-style home.
“A lot of the things he did in this house, he carried through to his later Eichler (designs). You can see the inspiration,” Eric Boyega said.
Eichler’s ‘testing site’
Eichler and his wife, Lillian, lived in their Atherton home for 14 years from 1951 to 1965 before selling it to the Judson family, who still own the property. During much of this time, they reportedly used the home as a “testing site” to decide what features to introduce in Eichler’s tract homes, according to an article that appeared on Glass Box in 2014.
Lillian would test out everything from sliding doors and built-in televisions to furniture, fabrics and floors. Based on her input, Eichler would decide which modern features to incorporate into his housing, according to the article.
Lillian once told a reporter “I’m a guinea pig,” according to the blog on EichlerNetwork.
Eichler ended up building five model homes on Linden and Irving avenues in the Lindenwood neighborhood as part of an experimental development aimed at upper middle-class buyers.
The homes sold for between $42,500 and $49,500, according to a 1952 ad in the Peninsula Times Tribune.
Eichler eventually abandoned his Lindenwood plans, and turned his attention to producing tract homes for the middle-class, which sold closer to $10,000 to $17,000.
For more information about Eichler’s Atherton home or the open house, go to EichlerHomesforSale.com.