supercool midcentury house, SF bay area

This is definitely beyond tiki, but I just thought some people here might be interested to see some pics of this midcentury modern house for sale in Belmont, down the SF peninsula.

Unlike the usual show house, all the furniture belongs to the owner. Ribbon chair repros, a Jacobsen egg chair, an original globe chair - all pretty fun! They had an open house last Sun, and might still have open house tours next weekend too. Here's the listing if anyone's curious (more pics on there too).

-Randy

Thanks for posting. So cool! Shag come to life.

Yes, Shag come to life indeed!

In fact, upon entering, poof: all women have bouffants, dark glasses, strapless gowns, and long black gloves.

(long cigarrette holder optional)

Thanks for posting those, aquarj!

Holy crap!
I dreamt about that house 10 years ago.

Super cool, however I'd love the furniture to go with it. Separating the two would be sacrilegious!

Yeah, just like some of Shag's paintings, you can look around and play "spot the designer furnishings". The Poulin ribbon chairs, the Aarnio ball chair (not "globe" chair, woops), and I think the cloud couch and the bubble lamp are from Modernica in LA. The owner seems to love the Expo66 white ball look. He's got ball speakers, ball radios, a ball record player, and a ball barbecue. Naomi and I hope somebody buys this place, and then invites us over a lot.

-Randy

Here's hoping you get invited over often. That is one beautiful house. Only 3 things wrong with it.

1. $
   2 Too far of a commute for me.
2. White walls + 2 children =

Wow, thems sum digs! I actually expected it to be a lot more $$. What's the reason it's so low? I know all you folks not in LA, NYC or SF are saying "so low???", but that's not much above the median price range around here. Is the neighborhood crappy? I thought Belmont was supposed to be a pretty nice area.

Is the neighborhood crappy? I thought Belmont was supposed to be a pretty nice area.

Well, I moved into Belmont 5 1/2 years ago, actually just a couple blocks from there. Maybe the neighborhood WASN'T crappy 6 years ago, but today, who knows.

I was a little surprised at the "low" price too, in light of the recent degree of sticker shock up and down the bay area. I can't really explain it, because the place has a view, it's convenient to shopping and freeways, and it's clearly been kept well (built in the 50s). But like many midcentury floorplans, it's small-ish in overall square footage, and has just a carport not a garage. Also no yard, and sort of an immaculate cleanliness that a lot of people can't conform to in everyday life. It's kinda hard to bring in overflowing shelves of cds and records and tikis and other junk without destroying the atmosphere. Great for a hipster "never-nested" single person or couple, but probably not a family house.

On top of all that, I think a lot of regular people aren't interested in this style other than seeing it as a novelty. And the people who like midcentury style probably more actively look in the more dedicated Eichler neighborhoods, so this is kind of an oddball situated among other more normal houses.

-Randy

I want one!

Only thing is, i am not cool enough to have such swanky digs. And where am I gonna put my tiki bar when its all white?

That is pretty awesome, you would have to shell out some cash on furniture though, you can;t just toss some IKEA stuff in there :wink: I'm sure even though it's not in an Eichler neighborhood, it'll incite a bidding war. (In the Bay Area, people actually will bid as much as $100K OVER the asking price on a house, insanity!)

I have a friend who bought an Eichler in Marin, and it was in terrible shape, they are both design types, so they knew that wanted to restore it, and start collecting mid century furniture. It's so funny, those house were SO cheap in the 50's. Our block has some Eichler inspired houses, and we've talked to the neighbors who've lived here for 40 + years and they bought them for $6000. they're selling for over $600K now. Crazy!

A friend showed me that JetSetModern actually did a feature on this place, and the remodel done by the current owner. Lots more info on this link.

Sounds like he did a great job!

-Randy

I have an absoultely sinking, horrible, feeling in my gut right now...some asshole is going to buy this for the lot and demolish the house.

Keep your fingers crossed- what a beautiul home. C'mon lotto!

I have some friends who did a similar restoration to a glass house in the Oakland Hills, he's Pixar guy, and I believe it's the house that Monsters Inc. built :wink: The place hadn't been occupied for 2 years while the kids fought over what to do with it. It had about $200K worth of work to be done to make it ultra swanky and the yard area needed to be cleared because of the fire danger, but by then it was the restoration that Nemo completed! It's pretty cool, and they did a nice job. Sadly, Mr. Pineapple and I seem to have dropped from their party invite list :(
oh well.

We're going down to giant baby mart in San Mateo this weekend (to get a giant baby...) and we might check this place out!

Oh, if anyone here does plan to visit that place this Sun, feel free to send me an email if you're interested in stopping by our (nearby) pad to tour some of our collection of trinkets, bric-a-brac and junk. My address is in the email button below, minus the SPAMBEGONE part.

-Randy

Very cool place... but I still want an Eichler with Tiki's in the atrium. Maybe one day...

ZAZZ!