Issue #2: Mid-Century Modern Gems in the Bay Area
I loved touring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, so let’s find some cool mid-century modern homes in the Bay Area.
The Silvert Lining is a place where I will be talking about real estate, cool homes for sale, things I’m looking forward to, and how I’ve been spending my time. In addition to this newsletter, I’m also posting regularly on Instagram. You can follow me at Dan Silvert Homes.
A huge thank you to everyone who read and shared the first issue. Your encouragement and support mean the world to me.
Being a Realtor®, I often work weekends hosting Open Houses and showing clients homes. I also like to travel and have realized that Sunday evening to Tuesday evening trips is the ideal “weekend away.” Phoenix, Arizona is a short flight from the Bay Area, and one of my favorite places to visit. Ideally, I visit in the winter when it’s cold in the Bay Area and warm in Phoenix. Yes, I know that last week I was lamenting the sweltering Bay Area temperatures and now I’m talking about escaping the Bay Area winter. The irony of this is definitely not lost on me!
On a recent visit to Phoenix, I toured and loved Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West in nearby Scottsdale. The site was the west coast outpost of his architecture school and included his private residence. In 1937 Wright began building Taliesin West as a winter residence and respite from the cold at his home and architecture school (the original Taliesin) in Wisconsin. Since Wright’s death in 1959, the site has been impeccably maintained and is now part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The magic of Taliesin West is how Wright’s design and building materials blend seamlessly into the surrounding desert landscape. I also appreciate Wright’s love of built-in, site-specific furniture; the living room of his residence, where he regularly hosted parties for his students, is my favorite space at Taliesin West.
Wright is one of the pioneering architects of mid-century modern architecture, which Merriam-Webster defines as: “a style of design (as in architecture and furniture) of roughly the 1930s through the mid-1960s characterized especially by clean lines, organic and streamlined forms, and lack of embellishment.” The term “mid-century modern” first appeared in Merriam-Webster in 1953, but it was the 1984 publication of Cara Greenberg’s book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s that brought the term into the vernacular.
When many of us think of mid-century modern homes, we think of the homes built post-World War II that capture that era’s optimism and utilitarianism. A large part of this is that the United States needed to employ and house servicemembers returning from WWII. According to the US Department of Defense, by 1955 WWII veterans had obtained 4.3 million homes loans totaling $33 billion and were responsible for buying 20% of all new homes built after the war ended.
If you want to read more about the history of mid-century modern and the seminal architects involved in the movement, I enjoyed this article from Architecture Digest and this article from House Beautiful.
Now let’s get comfortable in an Eames lounge chair and look at mid-century modern homes for sale in the Bay Area.
We are starting with a Joseph Eichler home as he was one of the most prolific Bay Area developers of mid-century modern homes. This 1965 Eichler located in Oakland is listed at $1,495,000 and has been renovated with high-end finishes that maintain its mid-century modern charm.
This 1965 Third Bay style home designed by architect John Christian Belz has impeccable vibes and views. Located in Berkeley and listed at $1,495,000, I would love to read a book in an Egg Chair in front of that fireplace.
This 1962 home in Berkeley is listed at $2,250,000. The mid-century modern aesthetic is fully intact, and the entire rear of the home is floor to ceiling glass with two levels of balconies. If your dream is to have your home featured in Atomic Home, you may want to consider writing an offer on this home.
Let me know if you are looking for a new home, and I can create a customized search based on your wants and needs that will email you homes that meet your search criteria. You can schedule time with me to discuss your search for a new home or selling your current home by emailing me at DanSilvertHomes@gmail.com. DRE #01963734
If you want to learn more about WWII, I loved visiting the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. The permanent exhibits are very interactive, and you leave with a new understanding of life in the United States during WWII and the intricacies of the war itself. There are also often temporary exhibits, including a recent exhibit on the internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese American WWII servicemembers.
If you chose not to participate in 2023’s Barbenheimer, you missed out on a fun cultural phenomenon. In keeping with stereotypes, I preferred Oppenheimer to Barbie. While Oppenheimer is long at three hours, the movie does an incredible job creating a palatable tension around the effort to build the atomic bomb. Yes, we the audience all know that the Manhattan Project successfully builds the bomb, which is then dropped on Japan thus ending WWII. But that knowledge feels irrelevant during the movie’s dramatic climax when Oppenheimer and his team are deploying their test bomb at Los Alamos. I found myself caught up with the dramatic action onscreen questioning if the Manhattan Project’s efforts would be successful. I also enjoyed Gary Oldman’s over the top Missouri accent as President Harry Truman, especially his pronunciation of “Nagasaki.”
Fun Bay Area Fact: Robert Oppenheimer’s brother, Frank Oppenheimer, founded San Francisco’s Exploratorium. Like his brother, Frank Oppenheimer was a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos; he is also portrayed in the movie Oppenheimer. The Exploratorium was his “San Francisco project”, and he served as the museum’s director until a short time before his death in 1985.
If you want a Japanese perspective on WWII, I loved 2023’s Godzilla Minus One. The movie is the 37th in the Godzilla franchise and takes place in post-WWII Japan. The movie’s plot revolves around Japan and its citizens trying to rebuild after being devastated in WWII. While this rebuilding is underway, a new threat emerges in the form of Godzilla. The movie’s dramatic climax includes breathtaking special effects, and biting criticisms of Imperial Japan’s military tactics and treatment of servicemembers during WWII. Godzilla Minus One was a commercial and critical success, winning a well-deserved Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards.
I will be hosting a Broker’s Open House at 720 Calmar Avenue in Oakland for my Keller Williams Luxury colleague Claudia Mills on Thursday. Please check my Instagram to see where I’m hosting Open Houses this weekend.