Eventually….
This story starts out like a lot of other people – we’ve been looking for a house for what felt like FOREVER. We had a list of wants. It seemed like every house we liked was out of our price range. Then the bottom fell out of the real estate market. California became foreclosure central. We lost out on a few ‘deals’. The banks took cash offers over us.
A home we had had on our list since last summer reduced in price in the fall. It was still sitting there in January. Even though it was still out of our price range, we decided to still go have a look. The home was touted as having ‘million dollar’ views
and an ‘eichler-ish’ appearance. I don’t know who the builder was, only that it was built in 1954 and was one of the first 5 homes built on the hill overlooking downtown Napa. Shawn grew up in an Eichler so he has a certain appreciation for them. We both like the quirky modern look of these mid century ranch homes or ‘Atomic Ranch’ as they are called.
After viewing the house and realizing it needed -urm- some work, we made an offer and the owners eventually accepted a price.
We are now in the process of closing!! And the fun begins….
What an awesome home — have you research who designed it and built it? Sorry if you have this somewhere in your blog and I didn’t see it.
Hi Gretchen, Thanks and welcome to my blog! We tried to obtain the original plans from the city but they don’t keep records that far back. The previous owners bought the home in the late 70’s and did not have any info. The good news is our neighbors next door have lived there since the home was built in the 50’s and have information about the original owners. I have to bend their ear one day because I am very curious about the history! All I know so far is that they had it built for them. Who designed it is still a mystery.
Interesting! Perhaps some day you’ll see a home that appears similar or catch up to some interesting records. I find a great deal of information via microfilm. I’m all ears on your discoveries!