Eichler Homes In Prime Time

The latest series of Volkswagen ads, which feature a Microbus voiced by Thomas Hayden Church, also include another mid-century icon: the Eichler home. Perhaps a reflection of the growing popularity of the spare furniture and architecture of the pre-space age, the VW ads are set in front of rectilinear, modernist houses designed by John Eichler (located, in this instance, in a neighborhood in Orange County, California). Found in several communities in the western US, Eichler homes are characterized by their open design, flat roofs, atriums and radiant (in-slab) heating systems. The design concept, achieved through floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding glass doors throughout the houses, was to promote the ideal of gracious California living by engendering a sense of being outside even when inside.

I lived in an Eichler home as a kid. Mid-century designs were not in vogue at the time, since the culture was still in the middle of rejecting everything that would invoke anything having to do with the mid-twentieth century. All high concept design ideas aside, I remember the house as stifling hot in the summer, cold in the winter, leak-prone in the rain, and generally lacking in storage space. The almost yearly re-tarring of the roof, when the smothering scent of the tar combined with roofing gravel filtering through the ceiling planks, added to the general discomfort of living in the house. Like many consumer products exalted for their aesthetics or philosophy over function, the high concept design left quite a bit to be desired in execution.