The House Hunter

35 years down the road and just up the hill from his father’s masterpiece in Claremont Court, Robert Ratcliff adds to this weeks highlights with a brown-shingled Craftsman Modern originally built in 1963.  This sleek and spare home offers panoramic views from the living room and wrap-around deck:

All well and good.  But consider this: the house was designed and built for a blind client.  Irony aside, anything built into this hillside lot just a post pattern from Memorial Stadium would have to feature such an eye-opening vista.  The interior, however, makes sense in light of the original occupant’s condition.

It’s a simple, right-angle heavy layout that yes, even a blind man could easily navigate.  But as with the exterior, nothing is lost on the seeing.  The entryway is sunlit and inviting, the living room features a fireplace framed by the origianl brick and wood paneling.  The kitchen is inclusive of the main floor and open on both sides:

That’s indeed cork floor in the kitchen- a green feature present in several of the properties more utilitarian rooms.  As in the previous Ratcliff, this one’s seen its fair share of upgrades.  It was certainly a different era, and the scale of each project is fairly incomparable, but if anything, 121 Panoramic Way is proof that father and son both have had a heavy hand in the evolving historical aesthetic of our little housing market.  For much more on the Ratcliff Legacy, click here. 

While it may not look like much from the street, this sprawling Claremont Court centerpiece is indicative of the creative sway Walter Ratcliff held as one of the most significant Berkeley architects of the early twentieth century.  Ratcliff was not only an architect, but a real estate lender and developer affording him the freedom to build whatever and wherever he pleased.

Orginally finished in 1928, the present incarnation of the so-called “McEntyre House” has been remodeled extensively without altering the historical integrity: the detached carriage house in the rear of the property, the kitchens, and each of the 5.5 baths are all fine examples of modern- even green- upgrades. 

With high, beamed ceilings, large iron-framed windows, and a courtyard complete with mosaic-tiled inlays, this truly Mediterranean floorplan must have offered such a unique approach to the notion of home during it’s era.  We were amazed by the flow of the upper floor-and-a-half.  Despite it’s seemingly random and choatic layout, the house was still open and fluid, invoking a familial pragmatism, yet each room was excluded enough to offer privacy or productive contemplation if desired.

And we would be remiss not to mention the amenities any house with a 3.2 million dollar price tag would of course feature: wine cellar, media room, wet bar, and the aforementioned carriage house, itself a stunning piece of property:

World, this is 2 Westminster Drive, 2 Westminster Drive, this is…hey…hey, where are you going?  Aw, shucks.  You see, a house of this caliber needs no introduction and has no need to know anyone with an income smaller than the GDP of most countries in the Southern Hemisphere.  With a (gulp) $4.5 million price tag, this bad boy leads the current East Bay listings by a cool two mil. 

Sauna: check.  Billiards room: check.  Pool: check.  Kitchen to cook for 200: check.  Other kitchen downstairs to cook for 50: check.  Wine cellar: check.  4 carriage garage/potential servants quarters: check.  About the only thing 2 Westy doesn’t come with is some chap named Jeeves waiting to hand you a Martini when you walk in the door.

The closet in the master bedroom could be rented out (comfortably) to a family of four if one wanted a little help with the mortgage.  One of the so-called “bedrooms” is big enough to hold a considerable library (complete with it’s own chandelier and fireplace of course):

Aha!  The kitchen is missing a fridge, right?  Nope, it’s just custom built into the cabinetry.  You could save one of those polar bears floating away on the melting Arctic ice and keep it comfortably in this thing.

This was the flagship house of Oakland’s hyper-exclusive Claremont Pines neighborhood when it was first built by architect Frederick Reimers in the 1920’s.  Which means it was sick then, and after the amount of work that’s gone into it over the years, it is undeniably sick now. 

Yes, this Mediteranean tucked way up into the woods off Keeler Drive in Berkeley is in fact painted in a fairly unique Blue, Red, White and Orange external color scheme.  But inside it looks like the set of a Stevie Nicks video or something.  Built in the 30’s, this fixer upper has exposed beams, rounded archways, iron chandeliers and not one, but two baby grand pianos in each of the lower levels vaulted main rooms. 

Like most of the few things left behind in this seemingly mid-remodel abandonment, it’s not likely the pianos will make the cut, but what remains is quite a bit to work with if one had the gumption.  The kitchen features new granite counter tops and is basically a few appliances and some wiring away from done.  The same could be said for the bathrooms: a little tile work and some new porcelain and this chateau becomes quite liveable.

Of course it’s hard not to feel like some lingering spirit is following you around when there’s no working electricity and the house is shrouded in dense wind-swept foliage.  The scant light dances in dark corners, beams creak, and did we mention two old-time pianos?  It seems as if one might just start playing on its own any second…

But after all, it is almost 2200 square feet of potential.  A foundation fix-up and some paint and the kitchens and bathrooms finished and this would be some hideout.  Just picture your nearest and dearest standing around the massive open fireplace with flagons of mead: if you find yourself at renaissance fairs more than once or twice a year and you’re looking for a place to call a castle, 1033 Keeler is waiting for some love.

Anything with a front gate like this has to be interesting, and 1126 Miller Rd. was no exception.  Don’t expect eye-popping square footage but do expect to look out the bedroom window when you wake up every morning at a peek-a-boo view of the city from the North Berkeley hills.  We caught this one on its illustrious debut, and the traffic jam created by realtors and buyers alike was almost enough to turn us around (if we could actually turn around on narrow Miller Rd., but whoever snaps this up gets a nice garage, so no worries).

It’s newly remodeled, but as you can see it retains its original mid-30’s character, especially in the bright main room.  But the shiny modern detail is around the corner in the new kitchen, complete with a custom painted canvas floor:

Sure, the first impression generated some nods of approval, but the lower you go on this property, the better it gets.  The downstairs is funky; several (newly built) flexible rooms, storage space, and a half bath.  But the yard is the real sleeper.  A charming patio set under a redwood seems the end of the property, but it just keeps trickling down the hill:

That’s the secret garden, complete with a small graphite monolith that shields the already well-shielded lower yard from just about everything but the view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Unless you’re worried about people with telescopes on said bridge, there is much naked time to be had in the hot tub with a view, by far the coolest feature of a very cool house for just under $800,000.

The agent gestures to be quiet as we approach the entrance to the non-descript building with barred windows across 29^th St. from the Grocery Outlet on Broadway.  It seems a homeless woman― no doubt aware that the building is vacant― didn’t get the email that Thursday is tour day.  She’s set herself up comfortably in the entrance walkway.  Sound asleep beneath numerous blankets, despite the midday heat, her shopping cart overflowing with recyclables and her meager possessions shields her encampment from street view.  We slip past unnoticed into the property, shaking our heads in a mixture of pity and amusement: the irony of our purpose and this scene does not escape us.  We are here to see the potential in this odd building. 

Masonry and timber, open and bright, the space is spare and quite raw.  The emblem of the previous occupant, a small non-profit firm, is still painted squarely in the center of the large main room.  Sunlight pours through the well-skylit ceiling in each adjacent interior space.  Exposed concrete floor and occasional piping gives off a cold, industrial feel, but the natural light and the sheer size of the space inspires myriad possibilities.  As is, a fine and funky live-in work space that any ceramicist or photographer or freelance design studio or what have you would salivate over. 

The kitchen and bath areas would be easily brought up to snuff.  The concrete floor― after a sanding and coating― is ready for any and all types of traffic.  Take off the roof in the rear main room and replace with a greenhouse material and indoor horticulture is in play, or, as the agent mentions, remove it all together and an enclosed outdoor garden becomes a notion, a charming detail in a starter home for a progressive Bay Area family.  Whatever the incarnation, this bare space is a foundation in need of imagination.  Poised on the periphery of the center of a city undergoing an osmosis of regional affluence (oh, how we hesitate to utter the “G” word but yearn for it none-the-less), 265 29^th St. is itself emblematic of the metropolis in the midst of some transition in whichever direction the collective forces of economy currently envision.  In the meantime, its subtle entrance is a home for a day or a night or a few precious hours for one soul, entirely unconcerned with the commercial potential of the very shade that she so fleetingly possesses.       

This 1954 Arthur Lee design has been owned by the same family since it was designed.  And that sort of pedigree comes through in just about every detail of the place.  One gets the impression that this house wouldn’t have looked terribly different– inside or out– in the late 1950’s as it does now.  In other words: this house has been loved.  And don’t think for a second that a lack of design evolution hurts the aesthetic.  From the mahogany panel walls to the retro kitchen appliances the house feels like…a home.  Yet at the same time the layout yields little in terms of a present day appeal.  It’s tough to put a finger on it, but perhaps being saturated week after week with spare metallic and glass post-modern design features, something like a midcentury modern brick fireplace as the centerpiece of the wide open living room just makes you want to sit back on the couch and put your feet up for a while.  But don’t think for a second that the layout needs to remain static.  It seemed to us that knocking out a wall in the rear of the place turns two small bedrooms into a longer, more appealing master suite, thus rendering the existing master budouir a clever and ample guest quarters.  A four bedroom becomes a large three, to each his own.  And it bears mention that adjascent to the open garage is a perfect spare space for just about any imaginable creative venture.  As is, 660 Woodmont is well worth the $849,000 price tag for a multitude of reasons.  The least of which being that this property is a standing tribute to the timeless potential of an architect’s vision.  This became a families dream home once, the only question remains who will carry on the tradition.

We had to break down and ask the mail lady for directions to this one.  8888 Skyline is actually on Shirley Drive, which is way, way up in the hills above Montclair.  This house, shack, well, we’ll call it a cabin I guess, is so well hidden and so weird that it’s just undeniably cool.  While the purpose of desinging a Tahoe-esqe ski chalet, complete with a high-pitched A-frame design in a place not exactly known for its heavy snowfall eludes us, what you do have is quite a bit of eccentric property up in the woods over the East Bay.  The site is complete with a two-car garage, an au pair in the basement (sorry, not a french nanny, but a wacky little studio complete with kitchenette) a redwood deck featuring sprawling views and shower in the master bedroom with a picture window looking out over the same vista.  This last feature may seem designed for an exhibitionist, but up in this neck of the woods you could go months without being seen.  I don’t know how I feel about vertigo while showering either, but this place would be perfect for the budding survivalist, novelist, or any other -ist that requires total solitude and creative space.  

While one visitor remarked that the place could use a steering wheel, it must be said that there is work to be done here.  Aside from navagational equipment, the deck could use a once or twice or probably three times over and the kitchen and bath spaces seem a bit antiquated to say the least.  But it wouldn’t take much to bring this thing to ship-shape and for the space, $550,000 in the East Bay hills certainly raises an eye brow or two.  There is something to be said for living somewhere that literally requires you getting lost in the woods to find.  If not for our trusty Garmin satellite thingy we might still be up there somewhere, huddled together and weeping by the side of some god-forsaken offshoot of Skyline hoping the mail lady comes by soon.

Superman had a fortress of solitude, after all.  And yes, this is the front porch so to speak.  It’s a bit of a hike to get down to the front door, but a home that takes this kind of effort to get to will be that much more enjoyed, right?  Besides, you’d never have to worry about  intruders, salesmen, fed ex guys, or your friends finding you ever again. 

What’s wrong with a little vanity?  Perhaps that’s the question architect Madeline Zayas-Mart had in mind when she sat down at the drafting table to pen what would eventually become 16 Sheridan Rd. in Oakland.  On the corner of Sheridan and Broadway Terrace this neo-modern flagship holds court over the neighborhood, jutting from the corner lot in a wide grin of glass and earthtones.  It’s not just a pretty face, however.  This stunner is the first Greenpoint certified home in the city of Oakland.  Amidst a laundry list of green features too long and far too technical to list here, the house features counter tops made of crushed curb side recycled glass, Brazilian hardwood harvested from naturally sustainable forests, and a strategic east/west layout to maximize solar and thermal efficiency.  What does this all mean?  Aside from the low carbon footprint, a monthly utility bill on a 3000 sq. foot home at between $60 and $70.  While this may not be a selling point or even a consideration for any buyer looking at something in this price range (1.6 million), just think of all the leftover pate money that’ll go toward all the parties and fundraisers this house invokes:

The futuristic lines and space- aged green materials that fill the place seem almost cold and rigid at first: it’s hard to feel worthy of standing in such a structure.  I’m sure the agent holding the open house had similar thoughts when she saw the two of us roughians step through the door.  Alas, we wiped our feet and dropped our jaws regardless.  The space asserts its green-ness and its luxury around every corner, almost to the point of exaggeration (ie: countertops of crushed beer bottles).  It’s hard not to smirk in the face of such an affront, and quickly we settled in and saw past the sheen.  It would be difficult to settle in to such a space: you’d wear this house, rather than the house wearing you.  But the best of this tour was saved for last, when we discovered the discreet view deck of the aforementioned Brazilian hardwood jutting non-chalantly from the side of the house on the second level, perhaps the most understated, and comfortable feature of 16 Sheridan Rd.:

I think something famous and made of felt once uttered that it isn’t, in fact, easy being green.  This house  is no exception.  Setting the benchmark for the future of luxury– green luxury– in a market such as this requires such a herculean mash of detail, functionality and down right moxie.