The House that Rob & Tom Bought

Patio of living/dining room. Photos by Rob Huebschmann, unless otherwise stated.

Today, I will visit the house for the first time since obtaining the keys.  We already have contractors working on site (more on that later), so it will indeed be interesting to see what I find.  In the meantime, here's what we know about the house.  Set within a small development of only 35 like homes, the designs were created by the well-known Anshen + Allen Architects.  More about Robert (or Bob) Anshen can be found at Eichler Networks.  Built circa 1954, the homes mimic similar aesthetics and configurations found in the architects' more familiar designs for Joseph Eichler. Typically, both Eichlers and our home emphasize an indoor/outdoor relationship, post and beam construction, small bedrooms, larger social spaces, low slung roofs, simple materials, and passive solar designs.  Yet these homes are much more modest than some of the sprawling courtyard homes Eichler built.  There are no atriums or dramatic panes of glass, and most are well under 2000 square feet.

Again, this is not an Eichler.  Some might consider them "likelers," and I happily agree.  Credit should be given where credit's due.  Other developers hired Anshen + Allen Architects for their work, too.  In this case, we are fortunate to find our home's developer, Elmer Gavello, on YouTube meeting with residents of another tract of the same models built in nearby Sunnyvale, California (see update below).  The interview confirms some of the quirkiness of the home...including being fully built out of redwood.

This blog will investigate further its unusual character at a time when modern homes were trendy but still rare.  As homeowners, we're looking for that delicate balance between modern comforts and historic preservation of a unique place.  We look to viewers for comments and suggestions, and we hope this process will be of interest to others interested in exploring the preservation of Mid-Century Modern designs.  Are we in pursuit of the National Register of Historic Places?  We'll see.

Update:  As we have been meeting neighbors, several have mentioned that the developer was a firm named Pere & Mont.  I have not been able to confirm this as of yet, so more later...