Architectural
Photo by Ernie Braun/Courtesy Eichler Network Archives: An
Oakland/Imada design similar to the four plans in this collection.
The latest additions to our American Classics/Rare Historical Plans
Collection include copies of four mid-century modern Eichler home
designs. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs spent part of his childhood in an
Eichler house, according to the new Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.
He quotes Jobs: "Eichler did a great thing. His houses were smart and
cheap and good. They brought clean design and simple taste to lower
income people." Isaacson writes that Jobs said his appreciation for
Eichler homes instilled in him a
passion for making nicely designed products for the mass market. Another
quote from Jobs: "I
love it when you can bring really great design and simple capability to
something that doesn't cost much...It was the original vision for
Apple."
California developer Joseph Eichler brought modern architecture to the
suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s when he hired contemporary architects
like Anshen & Allen and Jones & Emmons to design his tract
houses. At Anshen & Allen the principal designer for Eichler homes
was Claude Oakland, who had studied architecture at Tulane University in
New Orleans before working briefly for maverick architect Bruce Goff in
Berkeley. In 1960 Eichler contracted directly with Oakland, allowing
him to start his own firm where he worked with longtime colleague Kinji
Imada. The latter received his masters in architecture from Harvard,
where he studied with Walter Gropius. The firm became Oakland and Imada
Architects in the 1970s. While most of their work was for Eichler, they
also designed redevelopment housing and other projects. Oakland died in
1989; Imada in 2005.
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