Eichler for sale in Concord, CA

Another Eichler has just hit the market, this time in Concord, California. The 4 bedroom/2 bathroom home has 1530 square feet and was built in 1965. It appears to be in excellent condition and is listed at $530,000. The only downside I can see is that it has no air conditioning, but I realize my perspective is colored by living in Texas. That would definitely be an issue here, but it may not be in an area where maximum temperatures rarely exceed the upper 80s.

From eichlerforsale.com

San Rafael Eichler model home

An Eichler atrium model home in San Rafael, California, has just been listed. The 5 bedroom/3 bath home, built in 1959, is 1894 square feet and is situated on a large lot. It even boasts an aviary on the property. The asking price is $950,000. Take a look.

What makes an Eichler "An Eichler"?

Most MCM devotees are familiar with the term "an Eichler," but many who live outside California may never have seen one or know exactly what gives a house that distinction. Averaging 2,000 square feet, Eichler homes feel much larger because of their open design, glass walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and atriums. Other characteristics are post-and-beam structure, low-pitched roofs, simple front elevations and beside-the-front-door carports or garages.

Post-and-beam construction:  Post-and-beam is the simplest form of load and support construction, consisting of two or more vertical posts supporting a horizontal rafter or beam. This feature can be found in most Eichler homes.

Post-and-beam construction
eichlersocal.com

Atrium:  Early Eichler homes did not include these interior open spaces. When architect Robert Anshen introduced the idea, Joe Eichler was skeptical. According to Eichler's son Ned, the atriums had no practical use, yet they were then, and continue to be today, a high-impact feature that buyers love.

Eichler atrium
purecontemporary.com

Glass:  Eichler homes incorporate glass walls...and lots of them. In many of the homes, it is possible to stand in the front yard and see straight through to the back fence. The use of glass walls brought the outside in and gave the relatively small Eichler homes a feel of openness.

A view from front door to back yard, used in Eichler Homes sales brochures
totheweb.com

Open design:  Whether there were no walls separating room, walls made of glass or partial walls that did not reach the ceilings, the minimal use of walls in Eichler homes also added to their feeling of spaciousness.

Open feeling created by few interior walls
eichlereichler.com

Simple front exterior:  The low-pitched roofs and unadorned fronts of most Eichler homes (some with no windows at all), as well as a beside-the-door carports or garages, make them easy to spot. Such an unassuming front exterior added to the delighful surprise when a potential homebuyer opened the door and found an atrium and glass-filled modern interior.

Typical Eichler front exterior
eichlersocal.com

From cityoforange.org

Not all of the 11,000 Eichler homes were designed by Robert Anshen. Other notable architects who designed for the company were Claude Oakland, A. Quincy Jones and Raphael Soriano.

To view a number of Eichler Homes floor plans, see Eichler Homes of Southern California and the site of real estate team Nil and Pelin Erdal.

Tomorrow's post will be about the Eichler X-100 Experimental House. Interesting stuff. Don't miss it!

Joseph Eichler

Joe Eichler

Joseph Eichler (1900-1974) was a California developer known for making modern architecture available to the middle class homeowner. He was born in New York City and grew up in a culturally diverse neighborhood. He received a business degree from New York University and started his career on Wall Street. In 1940, Eichler relocated his family to the West Coast, where he became treasurer of his in-law's family-run wholesale food business.

In 1942 Eichler rented the Usonian Frank Lloyd Wright Bazett House and was so fascinated by the architecture that he was inspired to become a home builder. At the end of World War II, Eichler began building prefabricated homes on individual lots. Two years later, he was making enough money to develop small tracts and decided it was time to look for someone who could design a new home for his family. He chose Robert Anshen, a young architect educated in Pennsylvania, who was just starting his own firm of Anshen & Allen. Anshen shared Eichler's deep admiration of Frank Lloyd Wright, so their business relationship was forged.

Until 1946 Eichler continued to build fairly conservative tract homes, but Anshen had different ideas. According to Eichler's son Ned, who eventually joined the firm, Anshen asked Eichler, "Joe, how can someone like you, who loves real architecture, build this crap?" Anshen convinced Eichler to let him create three designs for a 50-unit subdivision in Sunnyvale. That subdivision sold out in two weeks, and a new kind of tract house was born.

Joseph Eichler was a visionary who believed that his homebuilding could contribute to social betterment. One of his goals was to move good design from the realm of custom homes and large corporate buildings to the average homeowner. He strove to build inclusive and diverse planned communities featuring parks and community centers. Unlike most post-war builders, he established a non-discrimination policy and offered his homes to all races and religions. In 1958 he resigned from the National Association of Home Builders when they refused to endorse a non-discrimination policy.

It was Eichler's headstrong and tough personality that finally led to his reversal of fortune with Eichler Homes. The company went public in 1961, and Eichler could never accustom himself to relinquishing complete control. He became increasingly dissatisfied, even though he continued to push his progressive ideas. In 1967 he sold the company.

Although he continued to build homes till his death in 1974, none of his project matched the period of 1950-1967. Nevertheless, those years left a legacy of innovative design and business integrity that has never been matched in the history of American building.

From eichlernetwork.com, cityoforange.org, wikipedia.org

Eichler (l.) at a construction site
eichlernetwork.com

Eichler (r.) at the groundbreaking for the X-100 Experimental Research House
with A. Quincy Jones (l.) and Thomas Callan
midcenturia.com

Eichler (r.) looking at plans with architect Claude Oakland
eichlerforsale.com

Eichler (l.) at an awards dinner for Eichler Homes
purecontemporary.com

For the next two days, posts will continue to focus on Eichler Homes...the design, the foresight and the legacy.