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Today we have another nice Glenview home to share – this one in the storybook style. Veteran Way is a short street with an interesting cluster of homes which were obviously built by the same developer. It is not clear whether they were built by Dixon and Hillen who were responsible for most of the storybook tracts in the East Bay or by JC Scammell who built the interesting Spanish Colonial homes a couple of blocks away on Elston, but either way the result is impressive.

This particular home has a façade dominated by a great turret staircase and clinker brick chimney. Inside, the wrought iron and rough-hewn wood elements are used pretty sparingly, but all of the ceiling framing in the public rooms is left exposed, giving lie to the many applied box beams out there aspiring to create the same rustic appearance.

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The home du jour is a lovely Glenview shingle-style that boasts almost completely intact public spaces. Divided lights, pocket doors, paneling, built-ins, and even great period light fixtures – everything is in its place and in nice original condition. And with its well-appointed modern kitchen, this home has a little something for everyone.

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This unusual Walnut Creek postmodern home was the personal residence of Jim Simmons, owner of Tassajara Development. Though much of Tassajara’s more recent residential work has leaned toward a suburban mini-mansion aesthetic, this early home shows a more considered design. The exterior has a massing that is decidedly postmodern with its stacked volumes jutting out at all angles, but some of the detailing owes quite heavily to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian work. Inside, the home is very representative of the period in which it was built, but the spaces are nicely arranged and well finished.

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Today we feature an expanded Rockridge bungalow with an unusual stacked wood porch gable. The fireplace has been painted, but almost all of the rest of the original woodwork appears to have survived in the public rooms including some nice divided light windows and built-ins. And for those who prefer their period details to come with a few modern amenities the home includes recently updated baths and kitchen.

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This woodsy Orinda mid-century is at heart a large custom ranch. But designer William Kirk has made the spaces inside much more compelling than those typically found in this ubiquitous form by opening entire walls with floor to ceiling glazing. Kirk is not a designer that we are otherwise familiar with, but this particular structure is quite thoughtful without being too radical. It is a home that could potentially appeal to both traditionalists and progressives alike which is as difficult a middle ground to find in architecture as it is in any other discipline.

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Today we feature an interesting Redwood Heights home with some particularly unusual hybrid detailing. At first glance, the home is decidedly prairie with its prominent masonry chimney and horizontal massing with windows tucked up high under the eaves. Upon approaching the entrance, however, one is struck by the entrance portico which looks remarkably postmodern and the art deco door hardware. Inside, the details are mostly deco with a great curved built-in sideboard and period bathroom.

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The prairie box we feature today has a relatively spare exterior, but the few embellishments it does have are nicely executed. Inside, the home is blessed with a great deal of intact original woodwork including recessed paneling in both the living and dining rooms (an unusual upgrade from the typical board and batten), multiple pocket doors and fireplaces, and an impressive stair rail.

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This Oakmore post and beam mid-century has a great presence from the street with its jutting façade bowed out to capture expansive views over the bay. This part of the Oakland hills is situated at a particularly interesting vantage point where downtown Oakland and downtown San Francisco are aligned on the horizon and the home takes good advantage of its privileged position. Inside, much of the original texture has been encased in paint, but the exposed roof structure and substantial glazed openings still make for some compelling spaces.

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It is unusual to have two Julia Morgan homes on the market at the same time, let alone two of her earliest homes, but that is the auspicious situation we find ourselves in today. Following closely on the heels of the Galbraith house that we discussed a couple weeks ago, we now have the pleasure of sharing the William and Rachel Colby house which was built in 1905, a year prior to the Galbraith home and only four years into Morgan’s long and successful career.

The Colbys were both lawyers by trade, but they were also deeply involved in many aspects of the Berkeley and East Bay Community. Rachel taught at Oakland High and the UC Extension and was involved in numerous women’s organizations. William taught law at UC Berkeley and was the long time secretary of the Sierra Club and originator of the Sierra Club “outings” which still take place today. The Colby house even briefly became the Sierra Club Library for several years after the 1906 earthquake destroyed the San Francisco headquarters.

Much like the Galbraith home, the Colby house is built very much in the First Bay Region Style with its shingled exterior and raw wood interior. Unfortunately however, its recent history has not proved ideal for its long term preservation. The interior was reworked as a boarding house over twenty years ago and more recently the front yard was replaced with a large mass of concrete when the house was home to the brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon. These alterations notwithstanding, the home retains a lot of great original details and great potential for the right buyer.

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Today we feature a large Oakmore home designed by Ray Keefer. Keefer was born in Utah, but he grew up in Oakland and attended Fremont High School about 100 years ago when it was a brand new school that had just been built on the grounds of a former dairy farm in what was still a very rural part of the city. Though his name is not widely known today, Keefer was quite well-respected in the 30s and 40s and he built a number of impressive homes in the Spanish colonial style in Oakland and Piedmont as well as some interesting period revival and art moderne commercial structures.

This particular home is pretty representative of his larger residential commissions. The home is designed in a Spanish or Monterey colonial idiom and displays the typical dark wood and wrought iron coupled with multiple clay tile rooflines and stucco. The home has had some updating recently, but it is still easy to see Keefer’s facility with period revival design on a large scale in the original parts of the home.