Fairgrove Tract (Eichler-designed houses) (Cupertino, California)

Comments

• 
  scritch

  I lived in the Fairgrove Tract as a child, when the house was new. Although the hot-water-heated floors were wonderful in the winter, the slab settled, breaking the heating tubes, and my dad had to re-route the broken bathroom water plumbing up through the walls, out the roof, and back down into the bathroom. Also, the single-pane, floor-to-ceiling windows were wonderful to look out of, but also had tremendous heat gain. There was no insulation in the house. The flat, hot-tar roof tended to collect water in spots, leading to leaks. The grooved siding was very difficult to paint. But the layout was very well-thought-out, and even though the house was small, it seemed larger than it really was. Also, the modernist style is so stripped-down that even though many modernist buildings seem always cold and forbidding, the Eichler houses retain a freshness and openness not shared by homes built concurrently in more conventional styles.

  15 years ago | reply | hide comment
• 
  scritch

  Also, it was very integrated, a rarity at the time. We had whites, blacks, Jews, and mixed-race families all on one street. Never thought much of it as a kid. We were more concerned about not losing rock fights and what to do about the rats that escaped from one kid's science project.

  7 years ago | reply | hide comment
• 
  scritch

  And this is now Cupertino, but was San Jose in the 1960's.

  7 years ago | reply | hide comment