[This post also appears as a guest post today on The Front Steps.]
James and Gillian Servais build “stealth homes”. Over the years the couple have designed more than twenty houses, mostly in the Berkeley and Oakland hills, and the one characteristic they all share is how well they blend into their surroundings. With their dirt-colored stucco and discreet positioning, they are the antithesis of the architecturally strident “statement” homes that some people chose to build in the aftermath of the 1991 East Bay firestorm.
The look is invariably rustic chic. Think limestone floors, hearths made from slabs of sandstone and recycled wood used for exposed beams and doors. The influences are Mediterranean and early Monterey with a dash of the Southwest.
1400 West View Drive, a 3+/2.5 with a garden, Bay views and a 2-car garage, has vaulted beamed ceilings (as in the living room, above) and hand-plastered walls. It’s not the most accessible spot: reached by a private drive it is also adjacent to public steps. And with its 34/100 Walk Score, it’s not for someone looking to reduce their dependence on foreign oil. But at $481/sq ft, it may suit someone looking to retreat to the hills for a not unreasonable price.
Another Servais home, at 1269 Grand View Drive, sold in April this year for $2,025,000 on a $2,495,000 asking price. Down the street, 1260 Grand View Drive, a 3,626 sq ft, 4/3.5 contemporary priced at $1,099,000 has been languishing on the market for more than 150 days.
Price: $1,495,000
Per sq ft: $481
Walk score: 34/100
Related: Last sold in February 2006 for $1,350,000. Read article on the Servais’ own home in Diablo Magazine.
In brief: “Turbo Pueblo” living.
[...] at 1400 West View Drive in the Berkeley-Oakland hills (above) (see Home Girl’s take on it here) has had a $100K price cut to $1,395,000 after 54 days on the market. A tipster notes: [...]
[...] 1400 West View Drive, a home I continue to be told is pretty special — although I have so far failed to see it in the flesh — has cut its price from $1,495,000 to $1,395,000 after 58 days. [...]
[...] 2009 by Tracey Taylor. Remember 1400 Westview Drive in Berkeley’s Claremont hills? It came onto the market in November priced $1,495,000, had a $100K price chop, and didn’t sell. Well, this 3+/2.5 “rustic [...]
[...] first listed their home in November 2008 for $1,495,000. A full year later, agents have come and gone, they have tried the FSBO route, there [...]
Gas prices these days are just getting higher, i think the government should focus more on alternative energy.’**
Gas prices would always go up that is why we should move to alternative energy.~”