Globally known as ground zero of the tech boom, Palo Alto is architecturally known for something else: a preponderance of modest wood homes with concrete-slab foundations and midcentury-modern lines. Dubbed "Eichlers," these unadorned homes built mostly in the 1950s and 1960s fit their developer Joseph Eichler's creed to make good design affordable for middle-class home buyers.
It has been some time since Palo Alto has been considered middle class. Skyrocketing real-estate prices—the median home price in November was $1.4 million—combined with local restrictions that make tear-downs difficult mean Palo Alto is now full of renovated Eichlers.
In a place where swanky remodels are as prevalent as Internet start-ups, Alan and Bernadette Hallberg had many examples to help them determine what they didn't want to do to their own Eichler, bought on a quiet street across from an elementary school in 1999. They didn't want to go the route of those they dub the "purists," people who stay uncompromisingly true to the original, modest architecture down to its paint colors. Nor did they want to join the ranks of the "ruiners," those who throw on everything from Greek columns to Mediterranean motifs to second stories.
"We asked, 'What would Eichler do if he were around today?' " said Mr. Hallberg, formerly in marketing for Apple and Cisco, now vice president of global branding at tech company Lenovo. The couple hired Joseph Bellomo at Bellomo Architects, a well-regarded local firm known for modern structures like the Facebook café, asking him to keep the essential shell of the house but to expand the living space and update it with sustainable technology and finishes.
Their 2,500-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bathroom house was finished in 2011 after about a year for around $500,000. The house still has the same general shape and elements as the other Eichlers on the block. But it's also immediately apparent from the street that this house is very different.
Mr. Bellomo and his design partner Taraneh Naddafi wrapped the home with a redwood-slat screen, standing a few inches off the exterior walls. It silhouettes the original shape of the house and is intended to be reminiscent of a lantern.
Updating Palo Alto's Model Home
In back, the new narrow rectangular swimming pool and narrow deck replaced what the couple said was a "scruffy," small, kidney-shaped pool. Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors in the master bedroom open almost right to the edge of the pool. "Living here reminds me of camping on a beach right by the water," said Mrs. Hallberg.
Eichlers have long had a cultural impact in Silicon Valley. According to Walter Isaacson's biography, Steve Jobs lived in an Eichler in Mountain View, Calif. as a child. He said Mr. Eichler's mission to make great design affordable inspired him to do the same with the Mac computer and the iPod.
Even in Palo Alto, where home prices were almost 3% higher than asking prices in November, Eichlers command a 5% to 10% premium, said Keller Williams Realty agent Mark Easterday. He added that there are currently only two Eichlers in Palo Alto on the market, including a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,646-square-foot house that went on the market in December for $1.5 million.
Mr. and Mrs. Hallberg moved to Menlo Park in 1996 and bought their house in 1999 for $950,000, in part because they liked the schools in Palo Alto. After living there for almost a decade, they read about Mr. Bellomo in the local paper and called him. Mr. Bellomo, who usually designs new buildings, said he relished the chance to renovate an Eichler.
The couple's 82-year-old neighbor, Edith La Bonté, bought her Eichler next door in 1957 for $18,000. Ms. La Bonté, who has seen all kinds of Eichler redos, said she approves of this one. "I watched every minute. I've now decided my kitchen is too old-fashioned," she said.
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