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Gorgeous, weird Berkeley warehouse studio asks $799K

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SoMa is permitted to boil with envy

Admittedly, it feels a bit like the ad for 3026 Tremont Street in Berkeley may have been written by a random word generating program. They describe the circa 1946 warehouse turned studio as a "gallery/loft-like, unique art-inspired home." The sentiment is clear, but we admit to being puzzled by the strict meaning.

But everybody knows how many words a picture is worth, and one look at the little place immediately next to Ashby BART lets you know precisely what it’s all about. You wouldn’t think that the vibe of a Berkeley hills home could blend with the structure and facade of a low-slung work shed and yield anything good, but somehow they really did end up with the best of both worlds.

The interior is such a contest of bright extremes that the effect is almost cartoon like, mostly owing to all of the old red brick popping off of the various other red accents scattered about, not the least being those beautiful old steel beams. The natural earthiness of the slate floors keeps the palate from spinning out of control.

Some of the details look a bit dinged up and uneven, and we’re not really sure about the bathroom tucked into the corner there (the toilet suggests a somewhat claustrophobic experience). But if you were ever to have a vision of the most Berkeley-like live/work space imaginable, it would probably be this, right down to the tiny little pond out back.

The asking price is $799,000, aka half of what you’d pay for basically the same thing in SoMa or the Dogpatch. The present owner bought it in 1999 for $248,000, which is still only about $360,000 today.