Yesterday's Future Revisited: "Heavy Metal" Living with
the X-100 Steel Eichler of the San Mateo Highlands
From the pages of the Eichler Network Newsletter
By Marty Arbunich, Editor
 "Again Eichler Homes delves into the future with a new living form that serves as a research laboratory for testing new design concepts, new materials and new techniques of construction...The Eichler Homes X-100 is not only an exciting exhibition house showing what may be expected in the future. It is also one of Eichler Homes' continuing experiments for further developing the unique living they pioneered...To understand it, to become fully aware of its potential effect on living, to discover the countless intriguing ideas it contains - you must visit the X-100, walk through it, spend as much time as you can... Admission is free of charge." - Brochure for Eichler Homes' X-100,1956
Thoroughly heavy metal and designed to endure beyond all its peers, the Eichler they call X-100 turned 40 last year. It was a quiet birthday salute for the middle-aged pillar of San Mateo's Highlands. Owner Anna-Lise Pedersen was there all right, and so was Sminka, her jet-black canine companion. But conspicuously missing were the 150,000 others who, way back in 1956, streamed, all agog, past X-100's front door to get a peek at the newborn wonder.
The years have been kind to the X-100. Attribute it to a strong constitution, and credit master builder Joseph Eichler and the architectural firm of A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons. For when they created their futuristic experimental home, in early 1956, one of their bold and fantastic ideas - they indeed had a houseful - was to call in U.S. Steel for maximum support.
At a time when Eichler was pioneering new real estate development in the Highlands, the house of steel was built as one of his four original model homes - the other Eichlers were of wood construction, of course - and, in effect, served as a lure to reel in crowds from miles around.
As if staging some sci-fi fueled excursion to 1950s Utopia, the brochure for the X-100's (October 6, 1956) grand opening beckoned prospective guests to come and "visit the X-100 and make an exciting exploration into the future...Admission is free of charge."
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Features on File:
• Roots of the Eichler Gable
• Time Capsule 1951-'52
• Mystery of the Atrium
• House That 'Home' Built
• Streng Bros. Homes
• Architect Aaron Green
• Rummer Homes of Oregon
• Image of Inspiration
• A. Quincy Jones
• Eichler's Atherton Home
• The "Life Magazine" Eichler
• Last Days of Eichler Homes
• Eichlers of New York
• USG's Research Village
• X-100 House of Steel #1
• X-100 House of Steel #2
• The First Eichlers
• The Bazett House
• Diamond Heights Eichlers
• The Eichler Atrium
• Evolution of Eichler Design
• Psychology of Eichler Living
• The Eichler Homeowners
• A Liberal Eichler Salesman
• First Lady of Eichler Sales
• Photographer Ernie Braun
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For Joe Eichler, his jet age steel prototype was no free ride, to say the least. A few years later he would refer to it as his "$80,000 worth of research," but others have estimated the cost of the elaborate experiment at as much as $125,000. At either figure, Eichler's investment in the X-100 was far beyond even the original selling price (in the neighborhood of $20,000) for the standard Highlands Eichler.
"The reason why this house was so expensive compared to Eichler's others," Ms. Pedersen pointed out, her charming Danish accent seasoning her words, "was because the construction was so different, and it was one of a kind. I'm sure if he had built a hundred houses like the X-100, the price would have been less."
What Eichler's "experimental research house" lacked in affordability, it made up for in mesmerizing innovations and gadgetry. In a short time, with the X-100 as his drawing card, Eichler would transform thousands of acres of grazing land into a mountainside retreat for more than 750 of his aficionados.
If you comb the Highlands today searching for the legendary X-100, its identity likely will be concealed by the bountiful shrubbery which camouflages the metallic beams that poke out from the olive green facade.
On the inside of the Arcadia sliding front door, its personality is awakened, and an indoor garden, hale and hearty, is the first wonder to behold. Even with the front door closed, one needs to be reminded that the outdoors has been left behind. The brass-rimmed planters that skirt the three garden walls are illuminated by the skylight overhead and, at night, by exterior spotlights perched above the skylight opening. There is a convenient hose bib that juts from one planter, and radiant heat rises from circular cement slabs on the garden floor.
"I remember the first time I saw this garden," recalled Ms. Pedersen. "All I thought was that it would be a lot of extra work. Eventually, I liked the idea. Now I enjoy it, most certainly."
Even though the interior garden - well, make that two gardens - can raise eyebrows on their own, nothing is as striking to the visitor as the expansive canopy of corrugated steel Q-decking overhead. The corrugated motif extends to the patio outside, where a visor-like overhang protects the rooms from heat and glare. The thin, crisp lines of the cinnamon-colored beams span 2,310 square feet of interior living space, bearing the entire weight of the house.
A 32-foot skylight stretches from one end of the house to the other. On the floors are the original cork tiles, showing little wear, even after 40 years and a legion of visitors. The X-100 is a house full of glass, but it has no windows - only sliding doors - that can be opened.
Nearly every surface in the kitchen is either stainless steel or formica. There's a double oven, a six-speed blender base mounted to the sink counter, and a PA system wired to the bedrooms. The most offbeat feature of all, though, is how the kitchen table-top wing slides to one side, exposing a double cook top in the middle for at-the-table cooking and food warming.
In the master bedroom, one can prepare for bathing by drawing the drapes with one of two push-button controls. In the large sunken shower-bath, there are three shower heads, each set for a different height, and a plastic bubbledome diffuses light from above. And for a slightly bigger splash, there's always the pool out back.
Ms. Pedersen was not the X-100's original owner, but in a way it's been in her family from the very beginning. Her employer, Jesper Petersen, who operated an imported home furnishings business with retail stores from San Francisco to San Jose, bought the X-100, after its stint as a model home, for $47,000 in April, 1957. Mr. Petersen recalls that while Ned Eichler, Joe's young son, was administering the sale, the junior Eichler had indicated that the X-100 structure was built personally for himself.
"At the time, neither my boss nor I really had any intention of buying houses," remembered Ms. Pedersen, who, in the mid-'50s, lived in a San Francisco apartment. "Back then, it seemed like I worked seven days a week, and I just liked getting out for Sunday drives. Two or three times on those drives I went with my boss to San Mateo, and there was the X-100.
"I had never seen an Eichler house before, and it looked strikingly different from what I was used to. The steel house looked like a big barn at first. The boss's wife really loved it, and after they moved in, I visited them a lot. That's when I saw another Eichler for sale nearby."
When Ms. Pedersen moved two Eichlers away - hers also had been a model home - from the Petersens in October, 1957, their friendship continued to flourish. "We were close knit, like a family," she recalled. "The steel house and the swimming pool became my second home."
Even though they hated to give up their life in the Highlands, the Petersens were forced seven years later to relocate to Woodside to be near their three horses and stable. Ms. Pedersen may have lost her dear neighbors, but, in the shuffle, acquired perhaps the most celebrated Eichler home on the Peninsula. Together with her retired parents, both of whom had migrated from Denmark in 1957, she moved into the X-100 in 1964.
"My mother thought the house was too futuristic, of course, coming from the old country," said Ms. Pedersen, smiling fondly. "But it turned out to be very convenient for her and my father."
Thirty-three years later the X-100 still looks very much like it did in its 1950s heyday. Certainly, much of the outdoor flora has mushroomed, the exterior paneling and paint offer a slightly different effect, and the original fireplace and a handful of appliances have faded.
But when it comes to remodeling, Ms. Pedersen pointed out how little of it she has done, taking great pride in how faithfully she has maintained the original Eichler look passed on from the Petersens.
"You can't really call what I did remodeling," she claimed. "Replacement, yes." Then, looking slightly disapproving, she leaned forward and offered in a soft voice, "Now what do you think of what some of them do to their houses?"
In retirement, Ms. Pedersen divides her time between some homespun bookkeeping for Jesper Petersen's firm and maintaining the spacious X-100 and its outdoor gardens. "Everything in this house is done by me," she said with a sigh of fulfillment.
Jesper Petersen, now in his 80s, continues to live in Woodside but returns regularly to the Highlands to check up on his loyal employee and friend and the home he left behind.
"We're still best of friends," admitted Ms. Pedersen."When I think of this house and all that it has brought me, I feel lucky. I love it all."
X-100 owner Anna-Lise Pedersen today
(Since this article was first published, two changes to the X-100 have occurred. Longtime owner Anna-Lise Pedersen sadly passed away in January 2003. Shortly afterwards, in July 2003, the X-100 was sold to a preservation-minded group, including Eichler Network director Marty Arbunich, preservationist Adriene Biondo, and film director John Eng. Eng and Biondo own an Eichler together in Granada hills, in Southern California. The new owners plan to restore the X-100 and convert it into an exhibition house.)
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