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Concord Eichler designed by A. Quincy Jones asks $795K

Sensible but spectacular—the Jones formula to a T

A white mid-century home with a red front door. Courtesy Ken Fox, East Bay Modern

The new ad for 4161 Sacramento Street in Concord bills it as “one of the best examples of stylishly modernized yet preserved midcentury Eichler charm.”

Calling any property the best Eichler in any context is a tall order that’s bound to provoke certain Eichler enthusiasts. However, realtor Ken Fox says his new listing has some backup in the form of architect A. Quincy Jones, who designed the four-bed, two-bath 1963 build.

Collaborations between the two are hardly unusual, of course. According to the Eichler Network, the pair teamed up on thousands of homes (along with Jones’ partner Fred Emmons).

But Jones’ designs seemed to have a natural synchronicity with Eichler’s ideals. A 2013 Jones exhibition at UCLA’s Hammer Museum dubbed him “a quiet modernist,” but praised his designs for “bringing a high standard of design to the growing middle class by considering and refining postwar housing.”

He was by most accounts a modest, levelheaded guy who just happened to have an eye for “expansive interior spaces and a reverence for the outdoors,” according to the Hammer curators.

Case in point, 4161 Sacramento, which has all of the usual Eichler (and Jones) touches, including the spectacular entryway atrium, verdant backyard connected to the main house via giant glass walls, and post-and-beam style interior design with plank ceilings that soar.

Like Jones himself, it’s a house that excels while still remaining sensible and down to earth.

Realtor Fox also calls it the “last of the ‘affordable’ Eichlers” (it’s one of the great annoying ironies of California real estate that Eichlers, noted for being once attainable midcentury homes, now cost an arm and a leg.

In this case that means $795,000, up from its last $460,000 sale in 2013.