Synopsis:
Atriums, household conveniences, and sleek styling made Eichler Homes a standard-bearer for bringing the modern home design to middle-class America.
Joseph Eichler was a pioneering developer who defied conventional wisdom by hiring progressive architects to design Modernist homes for the growing middle class of the 1950s. He was known for his innovations, including "built-ins" for streamlined kitchen work, for introducing a multipurpose room adjacent to the kitchen, and for the classic atrium that melded the indoors with the outdoors. For nearly twenty years, Eichler Homes built thousands of dwellings in California, acquiring national and international acclaim. Eichler: Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream examines Eichler's legacy as seen in his original homes and in the revival of the Modernist movement, which continues to grow today. The homes that Eichler built were modern in concept and expression, and yet comfortable for living. Eichler's work left a legacy of design integrity and set standards for housing developers that remain unparalleled in the history of American building. This book captures and illustrates that legacy with impressive detail, engaging history, firsthand recollections about Eichler and his vision, and 250 photographs of Eichler homes in their prime.
Marty Arbunich is director-publisher of the Eichler Network, a Bay Area-based company devoted exclusively to supporting and preserving the architecture and lifestyle surrounding California's 11,000 Eichler homes. He produces a quarterly newsletter, also titled the Eichler Network, of historical features and home-maintenance solutions, and two other support periodicals. He also operates Eichler Network Online (www.eichlernetwork.com), coordinates a referral service of Eichler-specialized home-maintenance contractors, and manages the Eichler image archive of photographer Ernie Braun. A San Francisco native and Creative Arts graduate from San Francisco State University, Mr. Arbunich has built a thirty-year career in journalism, music production and retailing, and marketing. Since 1993, he has written extensively on the Eichlers
Paul Adamson, AIA, holds a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University and has practiced in New York and San Francisco. He is currently a designer at the San Francisco firm of Hornberger + Worstell, Inc., where he has worked on the design of numerous public, commercial, and residential buildings. His interest in mid-century modernism has lead to his participation in DoCoMoMo (Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement), where he is currently a member of the U.S. board. Mr. Adamson has written about the Eichler homes since 1994. He was the co-curator of a national touring exhibit on the Eichler homes and has lectured widely on them in the U.S. and abroad.
Ernie Braun's romance with photography began six decades ago at San Diego State University, where he pondered a career as a photojournalist. A few years later, during World War II, he worked as a combat photographer for the U.S. Army in Europe. For the next thirty years, while supporting a family of seven, Mr. Braun's bread-and-butter photography revolved around a who's who of architectural, industrial, and commercial accounts. Among them was Eichler Homes, for whom he shot thousands of striking images in many of the Northern California Eichler developments between 1954 and 1968. During that time he received an AIA Architectural Gold Medal. Since the early 1960s, Mr. Braun has been a dedicated advocate of the natural world. He has published six books, mostly on nature photography, including Living Water and Portrait of San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area. Today he teaches environmental photography and lives in San Anselmo, California, his home for more than fifty years.
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