Atherton FLW Seeks Steward

With a diamond-shaped layout and two parallel wings, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Mathews House of Atherton, which recently entered the market for $8 million, is a multi-faceted beauty.

Configured as a partial hexagon, this all-original, custom design, located at 83 Wisteria Way, is a tranquil space throughout, laid out with a separate wing housing the living and dining areas.

"This home has a kind of sacred feeling, almost like you're walking into a church," says listing agent Monique Lombardelli of Modern Homes Realty.

Built for Arthur and Judith Mathews in 1952, the current owners of Wisteria Way are the third owners of the home, one of a half dozen residences in the greater Bay Area designed by Wright.

"They're a sweet brother and sister who inherited the home from their mother," Lombardelli says. "It's a true Usonian that is all original, a living piece of history. What we're trying to do is honor what was here before, and learn about the incredible design that you can't recreate today."

Over the course of his life, architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) became larger than life, ultimately regarded as one of the fathers of American architecture. His concept of the 'Usonian house' embodied the idea of a type of modest, open-plan residential architecture that was well-designed, economical, and built expressly for middle-class Americans.

Had builder Joe Eichler not been inspired by the Wright-designed Bazett House that he rented in Hillsborough in the mid-1940s, it's possible that the Eichler homes that followed would have been designed very differently, or not at all. That early Wright-to-Eichler inspiration launched Joe's career in homebuilding.

Of Wisteria Way, Lombardelli says, "The grounds are amazing. It's such a private, beautiful space—you feel the movement inside. You feel all the warmth of the wood, the texture of the brick. And though it's just a little Zen space, once you get inside, once you experience it, you may feel differently."

The home is located in San Mateo County in a gated community in the Lindenwood area, a very popular area of Atherton. The community is walkable to shops and restaurants, and Atherton High is nearby. At 1,940 square feet, the home is small but sited on nearly an acre, on a cul-de-sac.