Architecture Wednesday: Julia Morgan Designed 1911 Berkeley Home

At the top of Rose Walk in Berkeley’s North Hills stands 1400 Le Roy Avenue, a 1911 Arts & Crafts residence designed by pioneering architect Julia Morgan, commissioned by independent professional woman Jessie Wallace, and carefully reconstructed after surviving the 1923 Berkeley Fire.

The home dates to the first decade of Morgan’s practice, when her architectural philosophy was taking shape through residential commissions primarily in Berkeley. Morgan, California’s first licensed female architect and the first woman admitted to Paris’s École des Beaux-Arts, would go on to an illustrious career and she was posthumously awarded the AIA Gold Medal in 2014, the profession’s highest honor.

The home’s original client adds remarkable depth to its story. Jessie Wallace was a professional stenographer who enrolled at UC Berkeley at age 42, graduating in 1914. Her decision to commission Julia Morgan reflected broader patterns in Morgan’s early practice: many clients were women—educators, professionals, civic leaders—seeking homes that reflected new ideas about women’s roles in society.

Just three years after Wallace died, on September 17, 1923, a grass fire in Wildcat Canyon swept over the Berkeley Hills destroying more than 600 homes in a matter of hours. Rose Walk was heavily affected, with many original houses lost entirely and later rebuilt, but this home suffered minor damage though a thoughtful reconstruction preserved the home’s original footprint and architectural character.

The home features wood-framed construction with gambrel roof and clapboard siding. On the front façade, paired and tripartite dormer windows capture morning sun, while French doors and casement windows on the rear of the home toward porches and garden spaces. There are also original Morgan details including multi-pane wood windows, built-in elements, and a living room fireplace; the proportions, the light, and the way the rooms flow into each other are all deliberate, yet the home never feels fussy or formal which is pure Julia Morgan: elegant without being ornamental, spacious without being grand, connected to landscape without sacrificing privacy.

The main floor features a large front-to-back living area, family room, dining room and kitchen with stairs to the basement level where there is a bedroom, laundry and recreation room. On the second floor in a primary suite with attached bathroom, two secondary bedrooms one with access to a sleeping porch, a study and second bathroom.

The property’s location at the top of Rose Walk is integral to its significance. Rose Walk was designed in 1913 by Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan’s mentor, in the Beaux-Arts tradition. This spacious pedestrian stairway has connected Euclid and Le Roy avenues for more than a century and the walk and the houses surrounding it reflect a period when Berkeley’s hills were becoming a laboratory for new architectural ideas rooted in craftsmanship, landscape, and belief that the built environment could shape daily life for the better.

Rose Walk is one of those Berkeley secrets that locals treasure: a public space that feels intimate. Being at the top of it, with unobstructed Bay views extending to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, makes this Julia Morgan home a cut above others in the neighborhood.

This is a home for someone who values design, who appreciates Berkeley’s history, and who wants to live in a place that feels connected to something larger than just the four walls. It’s not for everyone, but for the right person, it’s everything. And that may explain why the home sold for $800K over its asking price.

As always, click to emBIGGERate …

A few years after this home was completed Julia Morgan took on a slightly larger, nearly thirty year long project along the California Coast and designed Hearst Castle.

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Architecture Wednesday: 1901 Treehouse–like Home In Berkeley

For the first time in 45 years this treehouse-like home in Berkeley, California, is on the market … and for just $1.65 million.

The multilevel 1901 home’s design was influenced by architect Bernard Maybeck, one of the leaders of the Arts and Crafts movement. Situated in the coveted Berkeley Hills neighborhood just a few blocks from UC Berkeley, the property offers an enchanting city escape and tons of period detail. The 3,150-square-foot property spans three levels with four bedrooms and three baths in total.

Approaching the house is like looking for the entrance to the Magic Garden, or as I like to think, of Anna Madrigal’s home in Tales of the City; hidden from the street you walk up to the house along a long gravel path, surrounded by majestic Oaks, Liquid Amber, and flowering plants of every kind.

After walking down the gravel path, you enter the house by ascending the exterior Ipe stairs and deck through a unique Craftsman front door. The interior boasts massive wood beams and nods to a western cabin with several intimate yet connected spaces. There is built-in seating around an original stone fireplace in the living room; a wall of windows in the sitting room. The dining room has built-in cabinets with leaded glass doors and windows on either side.

The kitchen, a departure from the wood of the public spaces, is white and bright, with a vintage stove and oven, but a modern stainless-steel refrigerator and dishwasher; there are original Saltillo tile floors, vintage tile countertops, built-in shelves for dish display and a walkout to a large dining deck with a brick fireplace. There is also a laundry room and half bath on this floor.

Upstairs are 3 bedrooms, the smallest one has a private deck; a hall bathroom has an antique clawfoot tub and shower. Off the spacious primary bedroom is a sitting room, which could be an office, as well as its own deck.

Below the main floor, with its own separate entrance, is an apartment with kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and a large living and dining room.

While retaining its history and charm the home features many upgrades, including new dual pane windows, a new roof and a new foundation and seismic work.

Click to emBIGGERate …

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Architecture Wednesday: Ericsson-Bray House

Last week I was in love with a modern, mirrored box, in the hills above artsy San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, and this week my must have is a stunning 106-year-old cottage in the hills above artsy Berkeley, California.

And even better, the Ericsson-Bray House, an historic Arts and Crafts home is up for sale … for the first time in 106 years! To be fair, it’s not at all the same cottage, built by designer-builder Carl Ericsson, it was back then, having undergone several renovations and add-ons by architect John Hudson Thomas—brother of original owner Nora Bray—in 1921 and 1929. According to the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, the home’s living room, dining area, kitchen, and stairwell were part of Ericsson’s original floor plan, while Thomas later extended the entry hall and added both a library and a bedroom in 1921. Thomas returned to the home in 1929 to oversee the addition of a piano alcove and conservatory off the living area, as well as the addition of a "secret" gable room above the conservatory, accessible from two of the original upstairs bedrooms.

The entryway opens to the living room on one side and library; in the living room, a large hearth features original clinker bricks and a solid redwood mantle, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the backyard garden; and, as it is throughout the house, original features include redwood boxed beam ceilings and board-and-batten paneling, as well as vintage light fixtures and door hardware.

The conservatory retains many original features, including natural, gray-toned stucco walls that match the exterior of the home, and connects to the dining area, which comes complete with built-ins and vintage light fixtures. The kitchen features original cabinetry, as well as a vintage stovetop and modern appliances. Above the sink is a beveled-glass bay window, and in the corner next to the refrigerator are stairs that lead to the lower level.

Upstairs there are 3 spacious bedrooms and one bathroom. A carved wood, high gabled room with various charming built-ins: desk, twin bed and ladder leading to an attic storage space, bring to mind an English turn of the century cottage. The basement level has a bedroom, bathroom and laundry and connects to the garden on the south and to the garage on the north.

A rear view of the home shows how portions of the original shingle cottage merge with the stuccoed additions. A covered outdoor area extends from the lower level and connects to the multilevel backyard garden where raised vegetable beds rest on an elevated portion of the garden.

In total, the residence now offers five bedrooms and two full bathrooms spread out across over 3,000 square feet and three levels. The property is secluded on a charming tree-lined street in Berkeley’s Northside neighborhood and can be had for just $1,450,000. 

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