Eichler X-100 in Full Bloom

Once faced with an uncertain future, the Eichler X-100, the unique steel-framed mid-century modern home built by Joe Eichler to the design of architects Jones & Emmons, is finally in full, glorious bloom.

"I always considered it the number-one Eichler home, in fact long before we even came onto the scene," said Marty Arbunich, director of the Eichler Network and current owner of Eichler's experimental demonstration house in the San Mateo Highlands. "It's a special house that deserves special treatment."

New photographs of the fully furnished and landscaped X-100 (many featured below) show just how special it really is!

Since 1993, when he started the Eichler Network, Arbunich has enjoyed connecting mid-century modern homeowners and professionals, especially when those connections supported preservation and restoration efforts. To that end, the X-100 may be his favorite pet project of all.

"Looking at the new photographs by Sabrina, I'm so happy with the results," Arbunich said of a fresh batch of X-100 photos taken by Eichler Network staff photographer Sabrina Huang. "I think they turned out beautifully."

Actually, Huang is the latest of many expert professionals recruited by Arbunich to help restore and showcase the X-100 since 2003, when he and then-partners Adriene Biondo and John Eng purchased the unique home together to preserve its place in modernist history.

He pointed out that the one-of-a-kind 1956 construction needed lots of TLC and stewardship back in 2003, adding, "We were also very concerned at the time that the house could be ruined in the wrong hands, with unnecessary remodeling and even a second-story addition, which was a common threat at the time. Our approach, of course, was much different."

The partnership entertained select tenants to live at the X-100 for most of the next decade before Arbunich assumed sole ownership in 2013 and vowed to get to work on the landmark home's National Register of Historic Places nomination, as well as on its thorough restoration, which had been slowed by the recession of 2008.

"I immediately got more focused on our original goals," he recalled of assembling a team that eventually included interior designer Lucile Glessner Design (as project manager, aesthetic consultant, and furnishings procurement), landscape architect JC Miller of Vallier Design Associates (landscape and hardscape, with assist from New Forest Landscape Design), general contractor Smollen the Builder (building of fences and gates), stager Camila Baum of Modernism for the Masses (furniture sourcing assist)—and now Huang.