RealEstate680

 

The Rancho San Miguel community in Walnut Creek California is made up of Eichler Built-Mid Century Modern homes, built in the 1950’s.  Their design is quite unique and has a tremendous following of people who want  to return these homes to their original condition.  Many of today’s building materials lend themselves to this style. 

There are three homes for sale as of this post.

23 San Marino Court
4 bedroom, 2 bath

249 San Antonio Way
3 bedroom, 2 bath

183 Los Cerros Ave.
4 bedroom, 2 bath

Please send me an email or give me a call if you would like to know more about these homes for sale or Eichler Homes in general.

 

My neighbor is selling her update Eichler.  It’s approximately 2200 square feet counting  a tremendous atrium, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, ceramic tile floors and the radiant heat. 

It’s located in the Rancho San Miguel neighborhood, close to shopping, Heather Farm and all Walnut Creek has to offer. 

If you’re looking for a mid-century modern home in Walnut Creek, call or email me for a showing.

 

Thanks go out to all the Eichler, California Modern and Mid-Century Modern homeowners that attend the 2nd annual Eichler Faire in Walnut Creek on Saturday, March 8, 2008.  Attendance was fantastic, the Rancho San Miguel Swim Club House was busy fro 10 am to 2 pm. 

All the participants were busy talking about their products and services.  Thanks go to Freschi Air conditioning and heat, Linda Middleton from TerraLinda landscape designs, Kimberlee Fleiry from Fleury Flooring, Annette Nichols from Eichler Siding, Naja fro Kitchen Italia, Nick from It’s Concrete, Raul from West Valley Builders, Karen from Light and Energy, Linda Bowers from CA Modern Magazine and a special thanks to Allondra from Design Within Reach for all her great furnishings.

We look forward to our ongoing conversations with all Eichler owners, manufactures of California Modern materials and products and anyone else with the passion of mid century modern architecture.

 

What are California Modern homes?  What is Mid-Century Modern Architecture?  These single family homes are the ANTI-ranch style home.  The floorplans are open, ceiling beams exposed, lots of glass and open expanses of living space. 

My collegue, Pam Buda in Sonoma County says,  ”There are a few mid-century modern homes in Sonoma County. This one just came up and looks lovely. It is in the very prestigious Montecito area–the wooded hills just east of downtown Santa Rosa, very pastoral feel but minutes from downtown and minutes to Kenwood, Glen Ellen, etc.”

What many people find surprising is that California Modern Homes come in many different price ranges.  The North Concord you will find, entry level, first time buyer California Modern Homes.  The the Lakewood section of Walnut Creek you will find million dollar California Modern homes on large acreage with huge walls of glass.  Castro Valley has a large neighborhood of Joseph Eichler homes with tremendous views of San Francisco Bay and open space.

Just outside the Stanford University campus is a neighborhood of Eichler homes that start at $1,000,000 and goes up from there.  I think this community is about to become a Historic neighborhood.

Elizabeth Nardi of the Contra Costa Times, has the Eichler Faire on Saturday, March 8 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Rancho San Miguel Swim Club, 2727 San Carlos Drive in Walnut Creek in her Wednesday, March 5th issue of Walnut Creek Journal.  Many craftspeople and manufactures that specialize in Eichler, California Modern and Mid-Century Modern homes will be there to show the public their products and skills.  By the way, this event is free to the public.

 

If you follow homes built by Joseph Eichler, California Modern and Mid-Century Modern, you will be very interested in the Eichler/CA Modern Faire that my colleague, Heidi Slocomb and I are hosting.  The event is Saturday, March 8, 2008 from 10 AM to 2PM at the Rancho San Miguel Swim Club at 2727 San Carlos Drive in Walnut Creek, California.

 Joining us at the event are contractors and crafts-people who specialize in products and services for Eichlers and CA Modern style homes.  Abril Roofing and Energy, specialist in foam roofing;  Light Energy Systems, specialists in all aspects of energy saving heating;  Jeff and Annette Nichols, fabrication of unique interior and exterior siding patterns; Kitchens Italia, European kitchen and bath designers; Freschi Air Systems, air conditioning and heating specialists; Terralinda, landscape designers; Fleyry’s Flooring, contemporary floor choices; and more.

Last year we had over 125 people attend our event from Oakland, Castro Valley, Berkeley, Concord and Walnut Creek.  These cities represent the areas in the east bay area of San Francisco that have a large concentration of Eichler and California Modern homes.  By the way, it’s free to the public, just drop on by.

 My colleague, Heidi Slocomb has an Eichler listing in Concord that is absolutely fantastic.  It’s a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with over 1800 square feet of living space, walls of glass to let in the light and a swimming pool in a very private backyard. 

 If you are in the neighborhood this Sunday January 27 fro 1 to 4 pm, please stop by.  I will be holding it open to the public

 

 Hunter Wimmer and Cassandra Permenter recently bought an Eichler in Concord, California.  The home they purchased was in original condition.  They bought the home from the original owner’s family.  truly a diamond in the rough.

Hunter and Cassie have an eye for design and a very good understanding about construction.  Their story is told in their Blog:  www.RedneckModern.com.  I am very impressed with their work and have enjoyed reading about the transformation.

There are a lot of original Concord and Walnut Creek Eichlers owned by the orignal owners.  Each is a wonderful story of how they raised their family in these great communities.

Joseph Eichler’s homes still show the imagination that has not been equaled in the last 50 years. They still look MODERN. Most of the homes built were tract homes, built on site, with not a lot of frills. They are concrete, glass and tremendous lines. I have heard he stopped building these homes because the cost of concrete and glass became too expensive. A ranch style home was much cheaper to build. I took less time, the material cost less and it’s my opinion that it was more appealing to the mass amount of people buying homes in California in the 1960’s.

The Eichler communities in the San Francisco East Bay attract a tremendous amount of buyers. Castro Valley Eichlers have a unique element, as they are one of the only Eichler neighborhoods built on slopes. Rancho San Miguel in Walnut Creek is a large community of Eichlers. Many of the original owners still live here. The Eichlers of Walnut Creek are being purchased by young families. My colleague, Heidi Slocomb said, “Walnut Creek Eichlers are on their third generation of raising families.” The Eichlers of Oakland and Concord are smaller communities, but are also very desirable to people wanting the mid-century modern home that really fits today’s lifestyles.

We are having the second annual Eichler Fair in Walnut Creek on Saturday, March 8, 2007. We are inviting contractors and manufactures that specialize in products and service that lend themselves to Eichlers. I will publish more as we finalize the list.

 

Since my wife and I moved into our Eichler home in Walnut Creek five years ago, we have found that it takes a contractor that understands the construction to advise you on the type of new equitpment and understand how it will install .

 Since the California Modern style of architecture is glass, slab foundation and a flat roof with no crawl space, upgrades to heating and air-conditioning,  plumbing, even running wires through the house for surround-sound take the work of a pro with patience.

East Bay Eichlers, the communities in Castro Valley, Walnut Creek and Concord are fortunate to have a good bunch of qualified providers available.  I hope in the next few weeks to be able to share their thoughts and website with other Eichler owners in the East Bay.

 

My wife Christine and I became Eichler fanatics many years ago.  The design, lifestyle and architecture of these California Modern homes create a tremendous environment for an open floorplan with floor to ceiling windows and “loft like” living feeling.

 Joseph Eichler was a California based residential real estate developer know for building homes in the Modernist style.  He build over 11,000 homes in Northern California.  The San Francisco Bay Area Eichlers are mostly in Marin County, the East Bay; specifically Walnut Creek Eichlers, Concord Eichlers and Castro Valley Eichlers. Other areas include San Mateo, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and San Jose.  There are also communities of Eichler in Southern California.

Unlike most of the ranch style homes build with stucco, Eichlers are on concrete slab floors with radiant heat, large walls of glass, post and bean construction and semi flat roofs that show off the modern style.  Through the years there has been a rediscovery of this architecture.  Families are remodeling the Eichlers back to the original contemporary styles.

My collegue, Heidi Slocomb and I have an Eichler Faire every Spring in Walnut Creek.  I will continue to write about these homes and hope that you will join us at an open house or the Eichler Fair.  Feel free to email us at info@EichlerConnect.com to put your email adress on our list.