sudsmaster
Well-known member
Here's an interesting looking electric range being sold off as an Eichler home is being razed...
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/gms/507735990.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/gms/507735990.html
You Like Eich?
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Wow, I'm surprised Palo Alto is even allowing one of its highly desirable Eichler homes to be demolished. Perhaps it was a ghost of its former self and wasn't worth saving.
Stand by for a towering Mediterranean Mc Mansion to pop up and look completely out of place amongst its modest single story Eichler neighbors before too long.
Shame on you, Palo Alto Planning Commission!
Stand by for a towering Mediterranean Mc Mansion to pop up and look completely out of place amongst its modest single story Eichler neighbors before too long.
Shame on you, Palo Alto Planning Commission!
maytagbear
Well-known member
excuse an ignorant easterner,
but "Eichler home"...is this one of the houses built by Stanford for faculty?
Is the range a Frigidaire? Looks like Frigidaire or Thermador elements.
Any clarification would be welcomed.
Lawrence/Maytagbear
but "Eichler home"...is this one of the houses built by Stanford for faculty?
Is the range a Frigidaire? Looks like Frigidaire or Thermador elements.
Any clarification would be welcomed.
Lawrence/Maytagbear
sudsmaster
Well-known member
The range could be a Frigidaire - I can't tell from here.
Eichler, I think, was an SF Bay Area home developer. I think his developments were largely in the 50's-60's. Rambling ranch-on-slab style homes, influenced somewhat by Frank Lloyd Wright, but with their own problems peculiar to the angular modernistic style of construction. Such as the plumbing going out under the slab and having to be replacced with overheard pipes, radiant heating embedded in the slab that also proved to be unreliable over time, single pane walls of windows that were huge heat drains, difficult to insulate ceilings under low slung roofs with overhangs, etc. However the homes were trend-setting, creating the "California Modern" statement, bringing the outside into the home. I suppose a parody of an Eichler home could be found in the movie The Brady Bunch. And the Eichler home had a lot of cheesy imitators, who sapped the market for these modernistic homes and impacted his profits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Eichler
Eichler, I think, was an SF Bay Area home developer. I think his developments were largely in the 50's-60's. Rambling ranch-on-slab style homes, influenced somewhat by Frank Lloyd Wright, but with their own problems peculiar to the angular modernistic style of construction. Such as the plumbing going out under the slab and having to be replacced with overheard pipes, radiant heating embedded in the slab that also proved to be unreliable over time, single pane walls of windows that were huge heat drains, difficult to insulate ceilings under low slung roofs with overhangs, etc. However the homes were trend-setting, creating the "California Modern" statement, bringing the outside into the home. I suppose a parody of an Eichler home could be found in the movie The Brady Bunch. And the Eichler home had a lot of cheesy imitators, who sapped the market for these modernistic homes and impacted his profits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Eichler
Eichlers are wonderful!
I can't imagine why anyone would demolish one, but there's no accounting for taste, I suppose.
There's an entire website devoted to the peculiarities of Eichlers: The Eichler Network.
http://www.eichlernetwork.com/
I can't imagine why anyone would demolish one, but there's no accounting for taste, I suppose.
There's an entire website devoted to the peculiarities of Eichlers: The Eichler Network.
http://www.eichlernetwork.com/
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Knowing what I do now about the technical drawbacks, I wouldn't want to own an Eichler home.
- Re-roof every 12 years
- Energy inefficient due to flat roof and walls of single pane windows
- Plumbing issues
- Wiring embedded under roof, can't be worked on unless in conjuction with re-roofing
- Radiant heating in slab having to be bypassed with some other system
But I admit an Eichler style home might be nice for a few months on a nicely landscaped lot, or on a hill with a view.
- Re-roof every 12 years
- Energy inefficient due to flat roof and walls of single pane windows
- Plumbing issues
- Wiring embedded under roof, can't be worked on unless in conjuction with re-roofing
- Radiant heating in slab having to be bypassed with some other system
But I admit an Eichler style home might be nice for a few months on a nicely landscaped lot, or on a hill with a view.
Lawrence,
Eichlers generally appear to be nothing but a wall and a garage door from the street. Usually you would enter a courtyard first and pass through that to the "front" door. They are very private from the street. They are mostly found in certain pockets of the Bay Area (mainly Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and San Jose) with I believe some examples in Southern California also. I don't think there are any Eichlers in the Stanford enclave but it's very likely that a number of Stanford faculty members live in Eichlers somewhere in Palo Alto.
While Eichlers have their fans, Rich has pointed out their main shortcomings. I knew people who lived in a 50's Eichler-esque custom home back in the mid 70's. Even back in those days they advised that the cost for the pilot alone on their behemoth radiant heating system was $50 a month. These homes may allow you to bring the green in from the outside, but the homes themselves are anything but "green" in today's ecological terminology.
Somebody recently posted an item about the "Atomic Ranch" magazine which I subscribe to. They focus on Eichlers a lot but as was posted above, there's a lot to be found on line about these homes as well.
Ralph
Eichlers generally appear to be nothing but a wall and a garage door from the street. Usually you would enter a courtyard first and pass through that to the "front" door. They are very private from the street. They are mostly found in certain pockets of the Bay Area (mainly Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and San Jose) with I believe some examples in Southern California also. I don't think there are any Eichlers in the Stanford enclave but it's very likely that a number of Stanford faculty members live in Eichlers somewhere in Palo Alto.
While Eichlers have their fans, Rich has pointed out their main shortcomings. I knew people who lived in a 50's Eichler-esque custom home back in the mid 70's. Even back in those days they advised that the cost for the pilot alone on their behemoth radiant heating system was $50 a month. These homes may allow you to bring the green in from the outside, but the homes themselves are anything but "green" in today's ecological terminology.
Somebody recently posted an item about the "Atomic Ranch" magazine which I subscribe to. They focus on Eichlers a lot but as was posted above, there's a lot to be found on line about these homes as well.
Ralph
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Yeah, I don't quite get the point of trying to heat a home through water pipes embedded in a concrete slab on grade. Basically like trying to heat the earth at the same time. Not to mention the inevitable pipe breaks.
I once saw a show about a couple that lived in a Wright home. It was a beautiful place, with lots of nicely medium stained hardwood and panelling and built-in furnishings. But they said it required a certain lifestyle - the house forced you to live a certain way, in a sort of uncompromising way. Since Eichlers are designed by a Wright student, I would imagine they also have some uncompromising elements.
What's sort of interesting is that the Eichler home uses a post-and-beam construction. Whereas the platform version of balloon frame construction is far more common out here in the West. I've seen varied opinion on which is "better", more economical to build, better in a quake, etc. On the one hand the Eichler version of post and beam supposedly uses less wood. On the other hand the platform/balloon frame is supposed to be cheaper to build.
I once saw a show about a couple that lived in a Wright home. It was a beautiful place, with lots of nicely medium stained hardwood and panelling and built-in furnishings. But they said it required a certain lifestyle - the house forced you to live a certain way, in a sort of uncompromising way. Since Eichlers are designed by a Wright student, I would imagine they also have some uncompromising elements.
What's sort of interesting is that the Eichler home uses a post-and-beam construction. Whereas the platform version of balloon frame construction is far more common out here in the West. I've seen varied opinion on which is "better", more economical to build, better in a quake, etc. On the one hand the Eichler version of post and beam supposedly uses less wood. On the other hand the platform/balloon frame is supposed to be cheaper to build.
Brent-Aucoin
Well-known member
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Eichler Homes of Southern California
This is a great site with pictures of Echler homes for sale and otherwise.
I agree that the floor plan and the nature setting all look so nice and inviting. I just kept asking myself who could afford to heat and cool these homes?
When you pull up the site, click on Echler Gallery at the top.
Brent
http://www.eichlersocal.com/
This is a great site with pictures of Echler homes for sale and otherwise.
I agree that the floor plan and the nature setting all look so nice and inviting. I just kept asking myself who could afford to heat and cool these homes?
When you pull up the site, click on Echler Gallery at the top.
Brent
http://www.eichlersocal.com/
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Wow, these homes really do turn their back on the street.
They are beautiful inside, but from the street, this one looks like it could be a city park restroom:
They are beautiful inside, but from the street, this one looks like it could be a city park restroom:
I certainly like that style of architecture. Nothing like a house with straight lines. ;-)
sudsmaster
Well-known member
I recall that the Reagans had something like that built in the suburbs as the new California Governor's mansion - the old historic victorian one in downtown Sacramento was deemed too vintage and, well, urban.
The next governor, Jerry Brown, refused to live in the house that Reagan built. Not sure about his successors.
The next governor, Jerry Brown, refused to live in the house that Reagan built. Not sure about his successors.
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