Esherick's East Bay Jewel - Page 2

"The price is actually quite modest considering that [possibility]," says Gordon, who despite having previously sold homes by Morgan and others is no less wowed by this house. "I think it's it's like a Picasso—it's a work of art."

Gordon was the agent for the Bermak family when the house sold to the current owners in 2013. Esherick had worked closely with the Berkeley psychotherapist and his wife to plan its construction amongst numerous trees on the lot, to which the couple added a few on the north side of the property over the years. The realtor noted that Esherick's "incredible melding with nature" for the house was "kind of a hallmark of his work."

After working with Lawrence Halprin and Charles Moore on the widely admired Sea Ranch properties known as the Hedgerow Homes in the late '60s, Esherick largely turned his attention away from residential to more commercial and public building design for the remainder of the century.

That makes this home what Gordon calls "a rarity" because, "There aren't that many of them."

The realtor said it "blessedly" had not had much work done on it by the current owner other than new kitchen appliances, and that none is urgently needed. She said some water stains on the wood ceiling occurred years ago during repairs and does not represent active leaking, but conceded of the house's current condition, "The baths could be upgraded."

Two open house weekends and a brokers tour were held for the listing in April, and Gordon said others are possible but that the owners were scheduled to begin considering offers this week. She is hoping for a buyer who appreciates the home as what she calls "an architecture and design masterpiece" by "one of the giants of the era."

"I had a couple people at one of the open houses say, 'Oh, we could just paint this wall,'" Gordon said of a prospective buyer failing to value the woodsy naturalism of the property. "I said, 'You don't want to buy this house.'"

For more information on the Bermak House, click here.