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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1908 



A House at Berkeley Hills, California 



By John Sherman 



How the Problem of Building a House on a Hillside Was Solved by a New York Architect 



ANY a delightful spot has lost its charm 

 through the inability of the architect to de- 

 sign and build a house in keeping and in 

 conformity with the site upon which it is 

 to be built, and in consequence not a few 

 golden opportunities have been lost in the 

 selecting of a site for a home. 

 The site chosen in this particular case was one which was 

 located on a side of a hill. It was fifty feet in width and 

 one hundred and twenty-five feet in depth, and with a dif- 

 ference in the grade of thirty-two feet from the front to the 

 rear of the plot. The previous owners of the property had 

 been informed that it would be impossible to build upon the 

 site with satisfactory results, so it was fortunate that an 



architect was obtained with a keen perception of the true 

 value of the site who, upon observing the group of live oaks 

 growing on the hillside, decided to place a little house among 

 their midst. 



The position of the live oaks and the steep grade de- 

 termined the position and arrangement of the plan of the 

 house, which as marked out is most complete in every detail. 



The foundations are somewhat elaborate for a house of 

 this size, but it was advisable to make them as substantial as 

 possible on account of the hillside. The entire foundation 

 is built of concrete, reinforced with three-quarter inch steel 

 rods, and the footings are toothed into underlying hard pan 

 and rock. The steep grade has permitted the building of 

 three stories in the rear and two at the front. 



Double Rows of Shingles Are Used for the First Story of the House ; Regular 

 Shingled Sides Completes the Second Story 



The House Seems to Nestle Among 

 the Tree Tops 



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FIRST STORY PLAN 



