We're fans of Warren Callister, whose beautifully-crafted houses are like chapels of redwood. One came on the market this week in the Berkeley Hills, and it manages to be both modest and wonderful. Built in 1958, the 1-bed, 1-bath house is basically a long shed built along one side of a double lot- the rest of the property is a landscaped rocky outcropping. But oh, what a shed. In seventy feet of what the realtor aptly calls a "gothic barn" the rooms step down from the entrance past a bedroom and bath, a study, the kitchen and dining room level, down to the living rooms with one of Callister's massive signature fireplaces and a floor-to-ceiling window with a view of San Francisco Bay. Looks to be in outstanding original condition.
Tucked underneath is another living room, bedroom and bath plus plumbing and electric for a second kitchen, all legal. No garage, just a gravelly area off the street to pull into. Asking $1,050,00, which is probably half what it would cost to recreate if you could find an old-growth tree to chop down. Check the gallery above and the realtor's dedicated site for more images. Best of all, you don't have to buy it to see it- there's an open house on Sunday from 2 to 4:30pm.
· Clarendon Heights: Warren Callister Works His Magic [Curbed SF Archives]
· 1324 Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley [Redfin]
· 1324 Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley [Carol Neil/PacUnion]