Architecture Wednesday: Japanese-Inspired Berkeley Midcentury

Tucked into a steep hillside in Berkeley, California, is a 3,449-square-foot home was designed by noted architect Robert Klemmedson in 1959. The modernist architect—who spent 10 years in Japan and often incorporated traditional Japanese elements into his Bay Area designs—loosely modeled the midcentury residence after the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto, Japan.

The home sits on a private Berkeley road developed by another famed architect, Bernard Maybeck, who was also known for his many prized works in the Bay Area. On the way to the property at 14 Maybeck Twin Drive, you’ll pass by Maybeck’s personal studio, as well as other residences the architect designed for his family.

Situated on a 15,133-square-foot lot with panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay Area, the hillside home includes four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms spread across two levels. In addition to a kitchen, living room, and dining area, there is also a media room, a detached two-car garage, and even a wine cellar … oh, I do love a wine cellar.

In the spacious living room, a wood-burning fireplace sits near sliding glass doors that open to a partially covered deck with Bay views. Traditional wood paneling and an earthy palette are accentuated by high ceilings and wide picture windows. And that’s the one thing I love about the house; the hints of Japanese design and architecture which is sadly missing from the dining room, kitchen and bedrooms; those rooms could be in any house.

And while the property also includes a private patio and a wraparound deck, as well as a peaceful, Japanese-inspired garden filled with greenery, it’s the treatment of the exterior, giving me 1940’s convict vibes … or Beetlejuice … that also bother me.

Perhaps a few tweaks because of its proximity to The City and Berkeley and those views?

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Dwell

Architecture Wednesday: The Maly-Smith Residence

I had never heard of such a thing: a Swiss-Chalet style Craftsman. But this one, built by Naldo Francis Stokes in 1908, offers gracious, living in a three-level home. Stokes' work incorporated finishes "of a very high order with handsome mantelpieces, beamed ceilings, built-in buffets, and all the accessories of a comfortable, modern house." In the early 20th century, Stokes made his name by creating stately homes in Normandie-Adams, and thanks to a thoughtful Historic Preservation Plan, this Central Los Angeles neighborhood remains a nearly unmatched repository of exceptional Craftsman architecture.

Wait, Swiss-Chalet-Japanese-Craftsman?

Charming period details include an expansive covered porch, a formal dining room, a library with a ceramic fireplace surround, large living room with fireplace, and expansive kitchen that, in my mind, doesn’t fit the style of the house and should be redone. Upstairs are four bedrooms and three baths upstairs, with two sleeping porches, and one bedroom—for the houseboys?—and two baths downstairs. There is also a California basement—a small, unfinished storage space excavated below the ground floor—and a sunlit attic suitable for use as a studio or office.

Alongside upgraded electrical and plumbing and a fresh California Native and drought-tolerant landscape, this historic property presents a unique opportunity for a new owner to apply for property-tax saving Mills Act designation for the front house and to utilize the advantageous LARD2 zoning to create a multi-family property using the garage structure out back.

I love this house … the history and design … and while it’s way to big for us, I could live in it if I had the $1.2 million—seriously a bargain—and it wasn’t already sold! 

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Unique California Property

Architecture Wednesday: Nasu Tepee

I do like something different, vacation cabin in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, a well-known summer resort in Japan fits the bill.

Since the site is located in the midst of dense woods the idea was to have high ceilings to let direct sunlight in the house, but in a traditional home that would result in the space becoming too large, too cost-ineffective for heating and air conditioning, and the fear that some trees might have to come down to make way for a tall “regular” house. So, unnecessary space was eliminated, cut diagonally to make the ceiling lower based on the way people move. This resulted in a tent-shaped house with only one third of the volumes, with ceilings as high as 26 feet and most ceilings a comfortable 8.5 feet high, with spaces closest to the sloped walls used as sleeping or seating areas.

The windows are all double glazed in order to ensure that the tall spaces are airtight and well insulated.. During summer, warm air gathers at the top and escapes through the top light side window, while in winter that warm air is drawn down into the larger spaces.

It may not suit everyone, but I love the odd shapes, the slopes walls, the high angular windows and the peaceful Zen-ness of the living spaces.

I could camp there …

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