ย โฆcontinues fromย Eichler Homes: From Niche to Mainstream
ย Eichler hired Ernie Braun to photograph the house. The photosย impressed Belluschi so much that heย remarked toย Eichler that they showed off the house even more than the imagesย published by Life.
Braun often pictured near-empty rooms, with just a few cushions to decor the space. The use of low camera angles generated a dynamic feel to the otherwise almost empty interiors, creating the impression that the rooms were larger than reality.ย Following the publication of theLife Eichler ย house, Belluschi received many requests from independent homeowners askingย him for similar houses. However, he refused all the offers as the design was intended only for the onetime Life experiment.
ย (1955 Eichler Homes Catalogue ย โ via Atomicpear on Flickr)
The โProfessorvilleโย Eichlerย Houses
John McDonough, a Stanford University professor and owner of an Eichler house in Palo Alto since 1951, also tried to approach Eichler homes requesting to build a customised house.
Stanford professors could benefit of a policy to get portions of the extensive University land holdings for long-term leases, and several faculty members contracted with Eichler Homes to build customized versions of their standard homes.
As other university members, professor McDonough found a suitable hillside lot in this sort of โprofessorvilleโ and,ย after few changes made ย by Jones and Emmons, the McDonough house was built in 1959 for nearly the same cost as the San Mateoโs.
ย (1955 Eichler Homes Catalogue ย โ via Atomicpear on Flickr)
Moving Forward: the Future of Eichler Homes
In theย beginning, Eichler housesย foundย their success within a passionate group of buyers that enjoyed the simple butย elegant designย of the housesย that offeredย a perfect synthesisย between social and artistic goals. But as demand grew, and buyers requested more customised designs, Eichler had to adapt his offer and mass-development strategies to keep up with the requests.ย
The Life Eichler house project marked the end of a period
Because of its architecturalย characteristics and expressive geometry, theย Life Eichler house project marked the end of a period focused on middle-class home designs. It was, however, just the beginning of a new chapter for Joseph Eichler that throughout his career always was in-between the industry visionary and leading developer, creating a unique blend of art, marketing and mass-developing.
