The Re-uppers - Page 5

These days, of course, many people who were raised in Eichlers or Strengs cannot afford them due to the steep rise in prices.

"I had my first child and wanted to buy a home. All my brothers and sisters were thrilled that I bought the house," Steve says.

"It's still the family home," he says. "We still get together here, all of us. We do Christmas here, a lot of family gatherings."

Steve's raised four kids there and enjoyed the experience of being both a child in the house and a parent.

"They went to the same schools, they played in the same baseball league," he says of the children. "It was kind of like me reliving my childhood again—but I was the father this time."

Living in a Streng or an Eichler may be different for a grownup who knows the history of the homes, has some history himself or herself, and has to pay mortgage and maintenance.

But that sense of wonder that these homes evoke can be felt by grownups as well as by impressionable kids.

"Some of my favorite things," Kerry Little says, "I can be sitting in the kitchen looking through the window and I can see the sunrise. I can sit here in the living room and see the sunset through the atrium. And at night the whole house is alight with the light of the moon. It makes me feel so happy with the place. I love it. Not everybody gets to experience that."

Photography: Sabrina Huang, Dave Weinstein; and courtesy Steve Thatcher, Karen Johnson-Carroll, Kerry Little, Bob Scari, Nancy Philleo, Sherry Hodson