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!