|
Eichler's Visionary Homes Stand as
Emblems of His Time
Arrol Gellner
Wednesday, September 29, 1999
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/09/29/HO80050.DTL
In 1963, a reporter asked developer Joseph Eichler, ``What do you call
your homes,
contemporary or modern or what?''
``I call them Eichler homes,'' he responded. ``There's nothing else
like them.''
With their dramatic facades, breezy interiors and Californian focus
on patio living, Eichlers are still standouts a half century after their
inception.
Between 1949 and 1967, more than 10,000 Eichler homes were built in
Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, San Rafael and other Bay Area suburbs.
They were the brainchild of Eichler, a wealthy dairy executive with
no background in design. He had lived briefly in a home designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright, and he wondered why such houses couldn't be made
affordable to everyone. He was finally inspired to take on the task
himself.
HALF CENTURY AGO
He hired the respected architect and Wright disciple Robert Anshen to
design the initial Eichlers, and the first prototypes were built in
1949.
During the next 18 years, a range of uncommon Eichler designs emerged,
including later versions designed by the San Francisco firm Claude Oakland
& Associates and the Los Angeles firm Jones & Emmons.
Eichlers had a host of unorthodox features, including post-and- beam
construction, slab floors with integral radiant heating, and a standard
second bathroom. Later models introduced the unforgettable Eichler atrium,
an entrance foyer that daringly straddled the line between indoors and
out.
Exteriors featured flat or low- sloped roofs, vertical siding and shockingly
blank street facades. At the side and rear walls, however, great sweeps
of glass brought the outdoors in, without so much as a step to interrupt
it.
Everything about Eichlers seemed light, fresh and modern in comparison
to the dowdy postwar homes that glutted the market, and they quickly
became a sales success. Yet they never garnered more than modest profits
for their developer, due mainly to their unusual design.
NO TASTE FOR CONVENTIONAL
Although his associates urged him to make the houses more conventional,
Eichler refused. Sadly, the realities of the housing market eventually
caught up with him, and Eichler Homes filed for bankruptcy in 1967.
Joseph Eichler continued building custom homes for another five years
until the 1973 recession made that, too, untenable. He died in 1974.
Time has brought a number of Eichler shortcomings to light.
Bedrooms are cramped by modern standards, and the thin mahogany-paneled
walls, hollow doors and free-standing partitions make the interiors
unusually noisy.
The innovative radiant heating systems have proved troublesome, and
the post-and-beam framing system can make sensitive remodeling a challenge.
However, the home's single greatest shortcoming couldn't have been anticipated
by Eichler or his architects: Designed during an era of cheap energy,
Eichlers made extravagant use of glass and were poorly insulated.
As energy costs soared during the '70s, Eichlers proved disastrously
inefficient, and unlike homes with attics and conventional windows,
there was no quick retrofit available.
For these reasons, as well as Modernism's fall from favor, the Eichler
will forever remain emblematic of the '50s and '60s. But what an emblem!
Though Joseph Eichler's uncompromising vision may have brought financial
ruin, his legacy has proved more permanent.
TO LEARN MORE
The homes of Joseph Eichler are showcased in an
exhibit at the University of California at Berkeley.
The show, which will run through Saturday, includes
photographs, illustrations and full-scale details of the
homes.
The exhibit will be open from noon to 4 p.m. daily
in the Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Room 116,
Kroeber Hall, at the university.
For more information, call (510) 642-0831 or
(510) 642-2582, or visit www.eichlernetwork.com.
Arrol Gellner is an Emeryville architect who
also teaches at Chabot College, Las Positas
College and the Building Education Center. His
column appears twice a month in
Home&Garden.
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page 7/Z5
|