EICHLER'S EARLY YEARS: 1949-'50
50 years later, we return to the manors and gardens
that embellished the great Eichler home prototype

From the pages of the Eichler Network
By Marty Arbunich

Pushing aside a brand-new "cement box with little windows," Muriel and Bill Mickel bought into the Eichler dream at the very beginning. Steven and Jean Aronson, fleeing the gloom of big city fog, stumbled onto their Eichler 50 years ago and have been hooked ever since.

"We bought ours sight unseen," confessed Muriel Mickel. "We had never seen anything like it before." "We put $150 down, and they asked if we wanted a 100-percent loan," added Jean Aronson, still sounding surprised. "We said sure."

Those are recollections of 1950, nearly a half-century ago. The Mickels and Aronsons were there at the starting gate, and are still living behind Eichler glass today.

1950 was long before the coming of the expansive Greenmeadows, Willow Glens, and Terra Lindas - a time, in fact, when Joe Eichler's developments were so small, they nearly became buried treasures overnight. But the Mickels and Aronsons still reminisce about those early days. They haven't forgotten Atherwood and Stanford City and Green Gables - and the Gardens of Sunnymount, El Centro, and University.

Back then, Eichlers were strange to everyone, and exciting to only a few. They were modern adventures awaiting an unconventional breed of settler, like the Mickels and Aronsons. And with each emerging subdivision came another opportunity to embellish the prototype of the ever-evolving Eichler model. But in the very beginning, in April 1949, two years into Joe Eichler's second career as the fledgling Sunnyvale Building Company, there was a pioneering development called Sunnyvale Manor I. It incorporated three dozen of the estimated 300 houses Eichler would erect before teaming with Anshen & Allen, his first major architects. More importantly, the Manor represented a big step forward for the budding developer, who used this project to revise his routine of selling prefabricated housing packages erected on the lots of his prospective buyers.

Prompted by one of his company's building superintendents, Eichler bought a 45-acre ranch in Sunnyvale and, for the first time, began to assemble and market the prefabricated houses on his own land. For $500 down, one could buy, as the Palo Alto Times advertised, "the most sensational three-bedroom homes in the entire peninsula area... Quality homes in the modern manner." Opened on N. Bayview Avenue near Maude, Sunnyvale Manor I featured modern orientation, flat and mono-pitched roofs, and central heating (radiant had not yet arrived). By adding a new wrinkle to his business plan, Eichler was off in a new direction.

The builder's second development and his first marketed under the Eichler Homes name, Sunnymount Gardens opened the following month. Also in Sunnyvale, set back from the Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road thoroughfare near Remington Drive, Sunnymount Gardens was an attractive package of 36 homes that seemed to extend the basic design of the Manor. Its horseshoe cul-de-sac site plan (comprised of Dawn Drive and Sunnymount Avenue) was an enticing feature, ensuring quiet, relaxed surroundings.

"Heavenly homes... Out of this world!" read Eichler's May 1949 ad in the Times. "Never before have Californians been offered such truly up-to-the-minute modern homes." The ad copy went on, accentuating "values" and "extras": 1,230 square feet with three bedrooms, a two-car garage, one-and-one-half baths, a brick fireplace, parquet oak floors, and central heating. All for $600 down. Eichler's greatest departure in 1949 from the Manor I model came with two subsequent sister developments, University Gardens and Stanford Gardens - his first step up into the more desirable locales of the peninsula, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Perhaps spurred by competitors who offered similar designs - the local Bell Construction had promoted their use of architects with modern plans as early as July - this time Eichler decided to recruit a designer (remembered only as "Castor") to upgrade and upscale his design. The results seemed consistently good.

Promoted in the Times as "a new, efficiently planned, quality community of streamlined modern homes," University Gardens' 50-plus homes (on Palo Alto's Josina, Kendall, and Barron Avenues) featured complex roof planes that interlocked and extended over one another. And, as one architectural advisor noted, they offered "a cozier ranch house quality not present in their predecessors." On the down side, Eichler's new plans also brought new prices, presumably taking him into double figures for the first time. University Gardens opened in September for $10,950.

Castor's other contribution, Stanford Gardens, which introduced radiant heat to the Eichler design, was a boldly imaginative development of only a dozen homes lining Menlo Park's secluded Evergreen Street. The homes were impressive - all had two-and-a-half baths - but, at $19,500, likely scared away many prospective buyers, the Aronsons included.

"We almost bought one there, in Menlo Park," recalled Steven Aronson. "But I had been out of the service only a short time, and just getting started in business. So I knew it would have taken all the cash that we had. We eventually found a price that was more attractive to us."

The price and place he and wife Jean would eventually settle on was still five months away, in Palo Alto. But first, Anshen & Allen and their groundbreaking design, AA-1, would enter the picture.

In February 1950, Eichler returned to his original Sunnyvale Manor subdivision, but this time with his architects, Anshen & Allen, to develop 51 three-bedroom homes two blocks away as a second phase of the tract. It would be hailed by Architectural Forum as one of the most significant merchant builder projects of the year.

With variations only in site plan and roof pitch, Sunnyvale Manor II incorporated identical AA-1 floor plans constructed entirely of redwood inside and out. The architects' plans were so detailed, Eichler was able to shave costs in both labor and materials. Priced to move, at $9,400, all sold within two weeks.

While its homes were not radically different from the projects that preceded it, Sunnyvale Manor II nonetheless was a major breakthrough. It introduced at least two significant design features that became permanent fixtures in the Eichler design: orientation towards the backyard by way of a wall of glass, and an open, seemingly spacious plan tying together the kitchen, dining, and living areas. Eichler began promoting his open plan in advertisements by picturing families in backyard recreation against the rear walls of glass.

The bold Anshen & Allen design features that distinguished AA-1 from its predecessors were the same ones that swept away the Mickels and the Aronsons at the open houses that followed.

The Mickels had been living in their brand-new, one-year-old home in Menlo Park when they decided to visit an Eichler open house in early 1950. The contrast between the two designs was stark; after all, theirs was a traditional "cement block," with small windows and plaster walls.

"When we walked into that Eichler model home in Palo Alto," Muriel Mickel recalled, a trace of excitement still in her voice, "it was mind-boggling. Ten-foot high glass walls looking over the garden, the post-and-beam ceilings, redwood walls - everything that was so unusual in 1950. We had never heard of such a place, had never seen anything like it before. But we decided that it was the kind of house we wanted to live in.
"We went back home to Menlo Park, immediately put a 'for-sale' sign on our front door, and that was it!"

The Mickels were indeed struck. The Eichler they purchased, in Redwood City's Atherwood, was purely a paper arrangement - there was no money down, either - because neither house nor subdivision had yet been built. "We bought six months or so before anything existed," Mickel said. "We didn't have any idea what the house was like. We just picked out a lot from the floor plan, and that was it. "Before long, we found ourselves driving to the Atherwood site with our three young children, watching the construction going up. We were ready."

In November, even before the sidewalks were in, the Mickels and many of their 75 Atherwood neighbors battled torrential rains and "mud up to our armpits" moving in. "We had wooden planks that led from the road up to our front doorways," Mickel recalled. "And our husbands, at the worst part of the winter rains, would park their cars out on Woodside Road and hike in two and three blocks. And because of our children, the road was paved with yellow galoshes." A month later, Atherwood and three new Palo Alto subdivisions - El Centro Gardens, Green Gables Addition, and Greer Park - were collectively honored by Architectural Forum as "Subdivision of the Year."

When the Aronsons left behind San Francisco and the Park Merced apartments in 1950, they headed south with a simple plan. They wanted some regular sunshine and a house they could call home for the next five years. Instead, they wound up buying an Eichler model home in Palo Alto's Green Gables Addition - one that would have a brief brush with fame, in fact - and then hang on for 50 uninterrupted years as quite-contented original owners.

"Since I was working in San Francisco back then, we had been considering building our own home in Fairfax," admitted Steven Aronson. "We didn't know anything about Eichler when we bought. And when we went to that Eichler open house, my folks were with us, and they weren't impressed one bit. But we were used to the modern look."

"And we liked it," Jean Aronson chimed in, "and we liked the idea of our home being so open, and all that glass. We saw possibilities."

Before the Aronsons moved in, their Eichler on Channing Avenue played host to an estimated 10,000 visitors, drawn to the opening of Green Gables Addition in May 1950. As a model home only two blocks from Eichler business offices in Edgewood Shopping Center, the model also served as a convenient playground for the media. In fact, House Beautiful made it the focus of its extensive feature in the November 1950 issue on pace-setting design called Making a little go a long way.

The Aronsons didn't overlook that fact when they were in contract. "We added to the sale that since it was a model, and it had all that traffic, we wanted some consideration for all those marks on the asphalt tiles, and some water stains," recalled Jean Aronson. "I wanted it in proper condition. And they took care of us."

In the years that followed, Jean and Steven Aronson considered moving to a larger Eichler, but resisted and added a second bathroom instead. Meanwhile, Muriel and Bill Mickel relocated from Redwood City to Palo Alto in 1959, but didn't give up the faith. They're in the midst of celebrating 40 years of contentment in - you guessed it - their second Eichler home.

Recently the Mickels returned to Atherwood, where they stirred up some old stories and paused for a few new photographs. The neighborhood didn't look much different, they agreed, and the memories seemed as warm as ever.

"I miss that used brick fireplace in the middle of that glass wall," Muriel pointed out fondly. "It was just gorgeous, the best part of the house. "You know, it's moments like this when I realize we owe Mr. Eichler a great deal of thanks," she continued. "I'm so very grateful we didn't spend the rest of our lives in one of those little concrete boxes."

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Where to Find Eichler's 11 Original Subdivisions

These 11 early subdivisions, sequenced by the dates their homes first reached market, comprise Eichler's building in 1949 and 1950. To plot an expedient tour route, consider this sequence (from south to north): 1, 6, 2, 7, 3, 4, 10, 8, 11, 5, 9. For a print-out with detailed street directions, plug in your desired town and street info into the Yahoo! Maps.

1. SUNNYVALE MANOR I April 1949
Location: Sunnyvale - N. Bayview at Maude Avenues
Architect: none
Central heating

2. SUNNYMOUNT GARDENS May 1949
Location: Sunnyvale - Dawn Drive at Sunnymount Avenue
Architect: none
Central heating

3. UNIVERSITY GARDENS Sept. 1949
Location: Palo Alto - Kendall Avenue near Barron Park
Architect: designer named 'Castor'
Central heating

4. STANFORD CITY December 1949
Location: Palo Alto - Ramona Street at El Dorado Avenue
Architect: none
Central heating

5. STANFORD GARDENS January 1950
Location: Menlo Park - Evergreen Street at Stanford Avenue
Architect: designer named 'Castor'
First radiant heat Eichlers

6. SUNNYVALE MANOR II Feb. 1950
Location: Sunnyvale - Morse and Arbor Avenues
Architects: first Anshen & Allen designs
Radiant heating

7. EL CENTRO GARDENS April 1950
Location: Palo Alto - La Jennifer Way - a Latin cross cul-de-sac
Architects: Anshen & Allen
Radiant heating

8. GREEN GABLES ADDITION May 1950
Location: Palo Alto - Channing Avenue at Greer Road
Architects: Anshen & Allen
Radiant heating

9. ATHERWOOD
November 1950
Location: Redwood City - Atherwood Avenue south of Woodside Road
Architects: Anshen & Allen
Radiant heating

10. GREER PARK
December 1950
Location: Palo Alto - Greer Road at Amarillo Avenue
Architects: Anshen & Allen
Radiant heating

11. LELAND MANOR December 1950
Location: Palo Alto - Southampton Drive near Bret Harte Street
Architects: Anshen & Allen
Radiant heating