What a Find in Lindenwood

When Chris Abramson muses on growing up in a unique Eichler neighborhood—Joe Eichler's most upscale and the one where Joe and his family chose to live for 13 years—he thinks not about architecture but about adventure.

"Our parents were never concerned about where we were," Chris says of the Atherton neighborhood where Joe Eichler built about a dozen homes starting in 1953, part of a high‐end tract that he was never able to complete. "We'd get on our bikes after we did our chores, and we could go wherever we wanted. And we felt like it was our private sanctuary."

On their home's roughly 1.85‐acre lot, Chris recalls, "We made tree houses. It had a long, steel‐chained ladder that led up into the house."

Chris, a bit of a daredevil back then, spent time atop the roof of his T‐shaped home, sometimes repairing tar and gravel to fix roof leaks. He emerged as a neighborhood savior of sorts.

"I had a reputation among my stepparents of being able to climb trees right away," he says. The skill came in handy when neighborhood cats stranded themselves in trees.

"I had the unique reputation that I, of all the kids, was called upon to go climb in a tree to get the cat. And I would climb up into these oak trees, and invariably I would grab the cat and was able to inch it down or drop it to a waiting blanket down below."

Lindenwood was built on the former estate of James C. Flood, the Comstock Lode millionaire, whose main house from 1880, Linden Tower, rose nearly seven stories.

The Eichler homes, which ended up being dotted between other, more traditional homes, were never quite that grand, but they were architecturally distinctive—and expensive for Eichlers, or any tract homes at that time, going for $42,500 to $49,500.

Chris lived in the Eichler at 73 Hawthorne Drive, from 1955 to 1969, part of a blended family. Dr. Mason Abramson, a pediatrician, the home's original buyer with his wife, married Chris's mother, Joan, after Abramson's first wife died.

After the death of Chris's mother in 1958, when Chris was eight, Dr. Abramson remarried again. Chris says that eight children from each of the wives were raised in the house. It was originally a four‐bedroom, three‐bath house. Abramson turned the garage into an additional bedroom, and there was plenty of room for all, Chris says.

As a boy, Chris didn't fully appreciate Eichler architecture, as he later would. But he loved the home, especially an outdoor courtyard surrounded by the home's living areas.

An early 1950s Eichler brochure refers to Plan 37, which is the same model, including its central 'court,' as the Abramson's Hawthorne Drive home. Designed by Anshen and Allen, the home clearly features one of Joe's earliest atriums, and perhaps his very first. By 1957 the court feature would actually be called an 'atrium,' and become a central feature of Eichler homes.

"We called it an indoor garden," Chris says. "It was consistent with Eichler's objective of trying to bring the outside into the home as well. It definitely achieved that." Chris's stepfather and his third wife were dedicated gardeners with a predilection for Asia. Bonsai filled the atrium.

"They built, or designed, their own gardens and landscaping, with a number of ponds on the property with flowing water. And it was just beautiful," Chris says.

Chris, who became a human relations professional, lives today in the nearby town of San Carlos, where his wife is "a wonderful gardener and has such a sense of design."

Chris remains deeply committed to the town where he grew up, serving as a volunteer with the Atherton Heritage Association. He also wrote a reminiscence of his childhood in Lindenwood, and produces a podcast, Note the Past, that delves into stories from the Bay Area music scene of the past.

As often happens in wealthy neighborhoods with relatively compact and unpretentious homes, property values in Atherton zoom and new owners tear down.

Chris's boyhood home at 73 Hawthorne was sold by his family in the mid‐1970s. The property and the home next door, also an Eichler, were sold to an owner who demolished both, Chris says.

Today a search for 73 Hawthorne reveals an immense quasi‐Colonial built in 1998. What used to be the Eichler next door is now "a huge pool and lawn," says Chris. "When I went by for the first time and I saw that there's this big, gaudy home at 73 Hawthorne, I was really sad."

Lindenwood has lost other Eichlers over the years. Joe's own home, on nearby Irving Avenue, recently sold. Chris and many others hope the new owners preserve it.

Chris volunteers Tuesday mornings at the Atherton association's museum. "Then I go to Menlo Park and I grab a little bit of Chinese food. I park in Lindenwood," he says, and recalls his childhood. "I spend quite a bit of time roaming around the neighborhoods, because it was such a wonderful time."