In Love Again: 1930s Berkeley Gem

I was reminded of something I read in the New York Times yesterday when I walked through 125 Stonewall Road in Berkeley (2,620 sq ft of gorgeousness for sale at $1,650,000): “You are my everything until somebody else is.” For this, my friends, is my new favorite home. So long 2 Marsh Place.

Designed by the wonderfully named Ekin Dinwiddie in 1937, this 4/4.5 house has been totally overhauled over the past two years, with a view to a sale, by architect Thaddeus Kusmierski.

Bad timing for him, wonderful timing for a potential buyer. I predict the sale will be swift and painless. This home, which is all about light and access to the leafy exterior, with decks galore and a beautifully finished kitchen and bathrooms — lots of bathrooms — would have been nudging $2m had it gone up for sale in 2007. Which was when Kusmierski bought it for $1,372,500.

My main question about this house relates to its site at the foot of the Claremont hills. I would definitely want reassurances that mud slides and/or poor drainage weren’t going to be future issues.

Price: $1,650,000
Per sq ft: $630
Walk Score: 65/100 — “somewhat walkable”.
In brief: Modernist 1937 home given a stylish 21st century makeover.

Incidentally, Dinwiddie studied under Eliel Saarinen and seems to be another one of those northern Californian architects who has been largely forgotten. Read this fascinating article published in TIME Magazine in 1942 about  the “New California Architecture”.