Modernism in the Margins: The Secret Lives of Secondary Spaces in Eichlers

Expanded Study of Secondary Spaces in California Eichler Homes

Introduction

Joseph Eichler’s mid-century homes are renowned for their open floor plans, post-and-beam construction, and walls of glass – hallmarks of “California Modern” designeichlerhomesforsale.com. Yet Eichler’s minimalist modernism did not stop at atriums and living rooms. It reshaped the secondary, transitional, and functional zones of the home as well, treating carports, hallways, closets, laundry alcoves, and utility nooks not as afterthoughts but as integral parts of the design. This report explores how these often-overlooked spaces in California Eichlers were conceived and executed, how they compare to conventional postwar suburban homes, and how today’s architects and homeowners are preserving or adapting these zones. Commentary from Eichler experts, restoration specialists, and owners will shed light on the philosophy and practical genius behind “modernism in the margins.” The goal is to reveal how Eichler’s vision extended to every nook and cranny – making even pragmatic spaces functionally elegant through the use of honest materials, fluid spatial flow, transparency, and simplicity.

Eichler’s Philosophy and the Fate of the “In-Between” Spaces

Modernist Roots: Eichler was heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian ideals, having lived in a 1940 Wright-designed home before becoming a developer flavinarchitects.com mid2mod.blogspot.com. Wright’s Usonian houses eschewed attics, basements, and even garages in favor of open plans and direct engagement with naturemid2mod.blogspot.com. Eichler carried these lessons into the tract homes he built for California’s middle class. His communities of modest, modern houses (roughly 11,000 built between 1949 and 1974) brought high-design principles to mass housing flavinarchitects.com. Importantly, Eichler extended the modernist mantra of “form follows function” to spaces traditionally considered utilitarian. Features that most builders tried to hide – car storage, closets, utility equipment – were reimagined in Eichler homes as visible, useful, and even beautiful elements of a modern lifestyle.

No Space Left Unconsidered: In Eichler’s view, there was no such thing as “leftover” space. Every zone served a purpose in the flowing indoor-outdoor experience he crafted. Influenced by Wright, he eliminated the bulky garage and made the carport a defining exterior featuremid2mod.blogspot.com. He accepted the lack of attics or basements as an opportunity to streamline storage into built-ins and closets, keeping the silhouette of the house low and horizontal. Period accounts noted the “lack of storage space was another distinguishing feature of Eichler’s architecture,” since aside from two hall closets and bedroom closets, there was little “backstage” area at all mcgill.ca. This forced careful consideration of storage and utility placement. Rather than add more closets arbitrarily, Eichler architects (Anshen & Allen, Jones & Emmons, Claude Oakland, et al.) designed the existing ones to blend seamlessly with interior paneling and employed multipurpose solutions (for instance, a bathroom that doubled as a laundry room) mcgill.ca. Such choices reflected Eichler’s philosophy that simplicity and efficiency – even in secondary spaces – would improve daily living.

Modern but Family-Friendly: Though minimalist in aesthetic, Eichler homes were meant to be comfortable for families. Open carports encouraged neighborly interaction and let parents watch children at play in the driveway, fostering a sense of community and “eyes on the street.” “Many architects at the time wanted to create a sense of community – people would unload groceries in front and neighbors could see when someone was home. The Eichler communities in California are perfect examples,” notes designer Marc Kleinmann candysdirt.com. Inside, the lack of long dark hallways meant parents could easily supervise children, and the famous “indoor-outdoor” transparency (through atrium courtyards and big glass sliders) allowed sightlines across the house and into yards. These design moves were progressive departures from the compartmentalized rooms and hidden service areas of 1950s suburbia. As we will see, Eichler’s egalitarian approach to space gave even the humble closet or carport a “secret life” as an essential and considered piece of the modern home.

Carports: The Open-Air Garage as Architectural Feature

One of Eichler’s boldest departures from convention was replacing the typical suburban garage with an open carport. In the 1950s, most American homes – even modern ranches – featured a garage with a solid door, presenting a blank face to the street. Eichler turned this norm on its head. His carports were usually positioned at the front, under the main roofline, with no swinging or roll-up door to conceal their contents. This choice was partly practical (saving cost and space) and partly aesthetic. Mid-century architects disliked the imposing, boxy look of garages attached to small homes candysdirt.com. An open carport made the structure feel lighter, an extension of the home’s planes and lines rather than a chunky appendage. As one mid-century specialist quipped, “Carports are more open, airy and lighter and thus fit into the open floorplan concept by extending it to the carport… helping to eliminate junk and clutter” candysdirt.com. The absence of a garage door meant homeowners couldn’t easily hide chaos – ideally, the area would stay neat, used for its primary purpose of sheltering a car (and perhaps doing double-duty as a covered play space or workshop when the car was gone).

Eichler carports often flowed directly into an entry walkway or atrium, forming a semi-covered transitional zone from street to front door. In Eichler’s “atrium model” houses of the 1960s, the carport abuts a walled courtyard; one can walk from the parked car, through a gap in the courtyard wall, and into the open-air atrium which then leads indoors – all without ever stepping out from under the broad eaves. This continuous progression epitomizes Eichler’s integration of secondary spaces into the home’s architecture. Even in models without atriums, the carport frequently leads to a covered entry stoop or breezeway. At night, globe lights mounted on carport beams cast the same welcoming glow as those in the living room, emphasizing design continuity. Materials were consistently applied – the carport’s ceiling is the underside of the interior’s tongue-and-groove decking, and its supporting posts are the same beams that run through the house. In Eichler’s view, the carport was simply an outdoor room with a specific function, not an unrelated outbuilding.

Comparing Carports and Garages

In contrast to a typical 1950s garage, which was often front-facing but closed off, an Eichler carport created an inviting pavilion-like effect. Architecturally, this kept the street façade open and friendly. Sociologically, it invited casual interaction: neighbors could see one another coming and going. As Eichler expert Ed Murchison observes, mid-century modern designers saw showing off one’s sleek automobile (with its tailfins, perhaps) as part of the modern lifestyle candysdirt.com. Carports put that on display, whereas traditional garages hid the car behind a door. The downside, of course, was exposure of storage; over the years, many Eichler owners succumbed to the temptation to enclose carports with garage doors or walls for security and storage. However, the recent “restoration” movement has reversed this in some cases. For example, the iconic X-100 Experimental Eichler in San Mateo, built in 1956, had its carport converted to a garage by a past owner. Preservationist Marty Arbunich (working with architect Lucille Bryant) removed the added garage door during restoration, “reestablish[ing] a clear path from [the] carport through the courtyard,” thus returning the home to its original open footprint atomic-ranch.com. The result is both historically faithful and spatially liberating – once again natural light and sightlines can pass through the carport and into the home’s atrium as intended.

Not all modern-day Eichler dwellers are willing to leave the carport open – some opt to add contemporary glass or wood garage doors. But Eichler aficionados note that even with an added door, the essence of the Eichler carport can be preserved by keeping the structure and look intact (for instance, using a transparent or lattice-like door that maintains visual lightness eichlerhomesforsale.com). Many original Eichler carports also featured an attached storage closet or cabinet at the back for tools, trash, or laundry machines – this kept unsightly equipment out of view so the carport itself could remain uncluttered. Overall, Eichler’s carport exemplified functional elegance: it was economical, community-minded, and harmoniously integrated, turning a mundane parking spot into a defining architectural statement.

Hallways and Transitional Zones: Light, Line, and Flow

Eichler homes drastically simplified the traditional concept of the hallway. In a conventional mid-century house, a long central hall might connect a series of small, enclosed rooms, with the entry foyer as a separate, formal space. Eichler’s designs, by contrast, minimized and opened up circulation areas to avoid any sense of a dark or cramped corridor. Most Eichlers are single-story and relatively compact, so the architects strove for efficient circulation – every square foot of hallway had to earn its keep by also contributing to the home’s openness and light.

Entryways: Many Eichler models did away with a formal interior foyer altogether, especially once the atrium concept was introduced. Instead of stepping from outdoors into a tiny vestibule, Eichler buyers entered either directly into the living space or into a glass-walled atrium open to the sky. This atrium acted as an outdoor foyer, a transitional space where one could pause before entering the house proper (while already being inside the heart of the design) dwell.com. Even Eichlers without atriums often have a covered entry porch or breezeway rather than an indoor foyer. The effect is a more gradual, integrated “arrival sequence” – you leave the public realm (street or carport) and pass through a semi-private buffer (porch/atrium) before reaching the private interior. Architecturally, this blurred the line between outside and inside. As one designer-homeowner who restored her Eichler noted, previous remodels had enclosed some of these open transition areas, but by removing those enclosures she was able to “restore the house to its original intent” of flowing, open spaces dwell.com. In Eichler’s philosophy, arrival was meant to be an experience, not just a door – hence the popularity of features like swinging front doors that open onto atriums, or full-height glass panels adjacent to the entry that immediately reveal a glimpse of the interior and backyard beyond.

Hallways: Within the bedroom wing of an Eichler, a hallway typically does exist, but it is often short and terminates in a source of natural light (a window or sliding glass door to the outside). For instance, in many 3- or 4-bedroom Eichler plans, a single straight hall runs alongside the bedrooms and leads to a bathroom or den at the end with a window, preventing the “dead end” feeling. The hall itself is generally lit by transom windows or skylights, and its side walls are frequently clad in the same Philippine mahogany paneling as the rest of the house, giving it a warm, continuous appearance atomic-ranch.com. Closets or room doors along Eichler hallways are flush and simple, often painted to match the paneling or left wood-toned, so the corridor maintains a clean look. One Eichler owner recalls the “sheer beauty and simplicity of an original Eichler hallway” with its unadorned wood surfaces and abundant glass around it theglassbox.typepad.com. Where typical suburban halls might be narrow, dim passages solely for circulation, Eichler halls feel like open galleries – sometimes housing a built-in desk, bookcase, or a decorative screen at the end as a focal point.

Importantly, Eichler and his architects tried to avoid wasted circulation space. The open-plan layout meant that the living, dining, and kitchen areas flowed together without need for interior halls between them. The only hall-like spaces were in the private wing. Even there, they found ways to add function: some Eichler models included a built-in cabinet or tech desk in the hallway, and others treated the hallway as an extension of the atrium by using indoor planter boxes or glass walls along it. In one notable remodel, designer Leena Kharkar-Kalakkad actually removed part of a hallway wall and installed shoji-style sliding screens, in order to improve flow and “maximize use of all spaces” in her Eichler almanacnews.com. This creative adaptation highlights a truth about Eichler hallways – they were never meant to be static, isolating corridors. Even a minor alteration like opening a section with sliding panels can turn a hallway into a flexible extension of a room, illustrating the inherent potential Eichler built into these spaces.

From Indoors to Outdoors: Transitional areas in Eichlers also include the side yards, breezeways, and patios immediately adjacent to the house. While not hallways in the traditional sense, these spaces function like outdoor corridors connecting parts of the home and yard. Eichler’s site plans often positioned a side yard off a kitchen or laundry door for service access, or a back patio accessible via a narrow side path. Children in Eichler neighborhoods famously appropriated such side yards and even carports as play zones out of parents’ direct sight mcgill.ca, effectively turning transitional spaces into extensions of the home’s living area. The continuous flat plane of the slab floor (often carried outside as concrete patio) and the broad roof eaves created a sense that the house did not stop at the walls. Nearly every extant photograph of a mid-century Eichler shows this intentional blurring: floor-to-ceiling glass and uniform ceiling lines make the boundary between a hallway inside and a covered walk outside nearly invisible. By treating transitional zones as part of the architectural composition, Eichler ensured they received equal consideration in terms of proportion, materials, and experience.

Closets and Storage: Minimalism Behind Closed Doors

Storage is the quiet workhorse of any home, and here Eichler took a radical stance for his time: provide only what is necessary, and make it as unobtrusive as possible. In the postwar era, many new houses touted generous storage – big garages, attic space, built-in cabinetry – as a selling point for accumulating American families. Eichler, however, deliberately restricted storage space in favor of open volume and glass. His bet was that homeowners would adjust their lifestyle to a leaner, more organized mode of living, in line with the modernist aesthetic. As one analysis noted, Eichler homes had “negligible ‘back stage’ space”: just a couple of hall closets and one clothes closet per bedroom mcgill.ca. No attic, no basement, and often no garage meant owners had to curate their belongings. While this could be a challenge (Eichler owners joke about the perennial need for a backyard shed), it also meant the home’s interior remained uncluttered and visually calm. In Eichler’s mind, storage was an issue to be solved by design efficiency, not by carving out extra rooms.

Closet Design: The closets that were built into Eichlers were thoughtfully designed to blend with the modern interior. Instead of hinged doors that swing out and interrupt flow, almost all Eichler closets use sliding doors on tracks. These doors often span from floor to ceiling, emphasizing the home’s vertical openness. Original Eichler closet doors were typically constructed with a simple wood frame and inset panels of luan (Philippine mahogany plywood) or sometimes hardboard. They had no external knobs; instead a recessed finger pull or a mere edge of the panel allowed opening, keeping the look flush and clean. In higher-end Eichlers of the mid-1960s, many closet doors were finished with grasscloth wallpaper or similar textured material to add visual warmth while still reading as a flat plane. Homeowner Zann Gates, who restored a 1955 Eichler in Sacramento, discovered the charm of these details. “We redid the closet doors back to their original look – painted the frames and rebuilt the grasscloth panels with new grasscloth and plywood,” she says, describing how they reversed a previous owner’s changesatomic-ranch.com. The result is a set of closets that once again feel like part of the architecture, accentuating Eichler’s mid-century style. In another Eichler renovation, when the original “grasscloth screens for the home’s hall closets were long gone,” the owners opted to install new wood-toned sliding doors in keeping with the home’s spirit atomic-ranch.com.

Original Eichler closet doors were designed as full-height sliding panels, often with a simple grid frame. This example shows two sliding closet doors (repainted) fitting flush within a mahogany-paneled Eichler wall. Their minimalist design and lack of protruding knobs kept the visual plane of the wall uninterrupted.

Because closet doors were so integrated, they are now a prized element for Eichler preservationists. Salvage companies and enthusiasts actively seek out original doors when Eichlers are remodeled, so they can be reused in restorations eichlerhomesforsale.com. The value lies in their authentic dimensions and materials – modern off-the-shelf doors don’t match the unusually tall openings and the exact mid-century look. In some cases, owners choose to fabricate replica doors using Eichler’s original specs (DIY guides for Eichler-style closet doors are popular in the community). All this effort for a closet might seem extreme, but it underscores how even storage elements contribute to the cohesive Eichler aesthetic.

Built-Ins and Creative Storage: Beyond closets, Eichler homes had some built-in cabinets (for example, kitchen casework and occasional dining room credenzas), but notably fewer than many contemporaries. The idea was to encourage flexibility – rooms could serve multiple purposes, unfettered by too many fixed cabinets. The consequence, of course, was homeowners needed to be organized. Contemporary accounts from the 1950s reveal that Eichler buyers often improvised solutions for additional storage. In one documented case, the Clarkson family immediately built a small shed beside their Eichler to hold tools and kids’ gear, since their garage (in that tract, Eichler did include a two-car garage) was being used as a playroom mcgill.ca. Another family extended kitchen cabinets to the ceiling to squeeze in more space mcgill.ca. These anecdotes show that while Eichler’s minimalist provision of storage was aesthetically motivated, practical needs sometimes pushed owners to augment it.

Today’s Eichler remodelers walk a fine line with storage: they often seek to add cabinets or attic space for convenience, but doing so without spoiling the Eichler look is the challenge. Many opt for period-appropriate cabinetry or hide new storage in plain sight. For instance, some owners have created new closets by borrowing space from oversized rooms, but they disguise the new doors with the same luaun paneling so they appear original. Others utilize furniture (like credenzas and wardrobes) to avoid altering the architecture. Eichler specialist architects like John Klopf often design modern upgrades that include more storage yet “feel” Eichlerian – such as adding bookshelves that mimic the style of Eichler’s original cabinet work, or converting part of an expanded garage into a storage room lined in plywood to echo the home’s interior. What remains consistent is the ethos that storage should serve the home quietly. As mid-century fans put it, an Eichler is about “living with less, but better.” The closets and cabinets are just enough for a curated life, and their simplicity keeps the focus on Eichler’s airy, open environment rather than on closet clutter.

Utility and Laundry Spaces: Hidden in Plain Sight

Every home needs its furnace, water heater, electrical panel, and laundry area – but in Eichler homes these utilitarian functions were cleverly compacted and often camouflaged. Eichler’s slab-on-grade construction (with in-floor radiant heating) meant there was no basement for a furnace or boiler. Nor was there an attic to run ductwork. The architects’ solution was to concentrate mechanical systems in small closets and enclosures strategically placed for minimal intrusion.

Mechanical Closets: Most Eichlers have a utility closet that opens either to an exterior side yard or discreetly off an interior hallway. This closet might house the boiler for the radiant heat system (in early models) or the forced-air furnace in later models, along with the water heater. Typically, it’s roughly the size of a linen closet – just enough for the units. Eichler architects often tucked this closet near the center of the plan for efficient pipe runs, but gave it an outdoor access door for service calls (so repairmen wouldn’t have to traipse through the house). In many Eichlers you’ll notice a striated or slatted little door on the side of the house – that’s the furnace/water heater closet venting out. By isolating equipment in this manner, Eichler homes avoided having large appliances visible in living spaces. The electrical panel was usually flush-mounted on an interior wall (often in a hallway or carport storage area), hidden by a picture or panel so as not to draw attention. The goal was functional invisibility – the house operated smoothly but you rarely saw its “guts.”

Laundry Areas: Without basements, Eichler homes had to accommodate washers and dryers on the main floor. Different models did this in different ways. Some early Eichlers (especially in the San Francisco Peninsula and Marin County) featured a “utility corridor”: essentially a short hallway connecting kitchen to garage/carport, which contained laundry appliances and maybe a small half-bath. Other designs simply placed a laundry hookup in the kitchen itself, hidden behind bi-fold doors or inside a closet. In later and larger Eichlers, architects sometimes included a separate laundry or “hobby” room – for example, the Fairhills tract Eichlers in Orange County had a combination hobby/laundry room off the bedroom wingeichlersocal.com. But these were exceptions. It was far more common for Eichler laundry machines to live in a closet off the main hallway or in the end of the carport storage room. The 1962 Eichler models in Walnut Creek, for instance, have a hall closet explicitly intended for a stacked washer/dryer next to the bathroom. In a 1950s Eichler in Terra Linda, the single bathroom was designed extra-large to also contain a washer, with an exterior door from this bath for backyard access – effectively making it a multi-purpose “utility room” for the family mcgill.ca.

Placing laundry in the center of the home was unusual at the time (when most homes relegated it to basements or garages), but it showcased Eichler’s pragmatism. It made doing laundry more convenient for the homemaker and kept them in the bright, heated part of the house rather than an outpost. There is a trade-off: noise and humidity. Eichler architects mitigated this by using solid core doors on laundry closets and sometimes routing an exhaust fan to the outside. Still, anyone who has lived in an Eichler knows that running the spin cycle echoes a bit in a post-and-beam house! Modern renovators often address this by adding sound insulation around laundry enclosures or relocating washers to newly built utility rooms if space allows.

The Aesthetic of Utility: True to Eichler’s ethos, even functional zones got a dose of design. Fuse boxes had trim that sat flush with paneling. The laundry closet doors matched other closet doors (one would scarcely know that behind one set of sliders were linens and behind another were a washer and dryer). In the kitchen, if the laundry was hidden there, the cabinet door style remained consistent. An Eichler utility closet might be invisible if closed, but when opened it was all business – tight and efficient. Remarkably, the radiant heating system removed the need for bulky radiators or registers throughout the house, which is one reason Eichler interiors look so clean and “undecorated” compared to other homes of the era. This was a deliberate design decision that affected secondary spaces too: no furnace in the attic, no baseboard heaters along walls – a quiet furnace in a closet did all the work. As one Eichler restorer put it, the beauty of these homes often lies in what you don’t see: “It’s the understatement – the simplicity – that is so elegant. Even the mechanical stuff doesn’t shout at you.”

Today, many Eichlers have updated mechanicals (new tankless water heaters, modern HVAC, etc.), but renovators try to keep them low-profile. Some hide new furnace units on the roof or in slim attic crawlspaces (for those with slight attics in attacher additions), but the purists find ways to use the original closets or re-purpose a cabinet so that the house still reads as an Eichler. Likewise, while some owners have carved out larger laundry rooms for modern lifestyles, others preserve the original closet setup to save interior space. The consensus among Eichler experts is that the home’s functional zones work best as originally configured, albeit with modern equipment. The proof lies in numerous successfully restored Eichlers where new boilers sit exactly where the 1950s one did, quietly warming the house with minimal visual impact. Eichler’s integration of utility spaces remains a case study in smart, restrained design.

Materials, Transparency, and Flow: Making Utility Elegant

Several key design principles tie together Eichler’s treatment of secondary spaces, giving them a functional elegance that still feels contemporary:

• Continuity of Materials: Eichler homes use a limited palette of materials repetitively – vertical grooved siding, mahogany paneling, exposed beams, VCT or cork flooring, etc. These materials do not stop at the “public” rooms. Hallways, closets, and even carports share the same surfaces. For example, the ceiling of an open carport is the underside of the living room roof deck, often stained or painted identically, creating a continuous plane that carries the eye from outside to inside. In one restoration, an owner noted how the “unbroken, flowing look of a single color extending from inside to out” on a continuous wall really reinforced the indoor-outdoor unity atomic-ranch.com. Eichler often used the same color scheme and finishes on closet doors as on walls, so a closed closet simply became part of a wood-paneled expanse. This uniform treatment lends a quiet dignity to functional areas – they don’t stand out as separate, but rather support the overall harmony.

• Transparency and Light: Wherever possible, Eichler introduced glazing or open sightlines in transitional zones. High transom windows in hallways, glass panels next to front doors, and open-topped partitions were common strategies. The carport, by its nature, is transparent – one can see through it. This was deliberate, to avoid blocking light to the front of the house. Similarly, Eichler atriums (though not the focus of this report) are essentially large transparent hallways without a roof. Even a utility room in an Eichler might have a obscure glass window or a skylight (some Eichler bathrooms, which doubled as utility areas, had skylights that incidentally illuminated the laundry area). The effect of all this is that even secondary spaces feel airy. Walking down an Eichler hallway, one might catch a glimpse of trees or sky, maintaining a connection to nature that was central to Eichler’s philosophy. Transparency also extends to social transparency: an open carport or a breezeway invites interaction and puts life on display in a way that more closed-off homes avoid. Eichler was subtly aligning these spaces with an open lifestyle – one less concerned with hiding mess and more about embracing modern openness (though the onus was on the homeowner to keep things tidy!).

• Spatial Flow: Eichler’s secondary spaces were carefully positioned to facilitate easy flow of movement. The placement of a side door from a laundry or kitchen to the yard, for instance, acknowledges how a family actually lives (taking out trash, stepping out to do gardening) without forcing a long trip through the house. Likewise, carports directly connect to front entries so one’s path with groceries is short and sheltered. There is a logic to the plan that reduces friction in everyday tasks. One remodeler who converted her carport to a living room still kept a “pass-through” feeling by adding clerestory windows and skylights in the new space, essentially retaining the sense of an open breezeway while gaining interior square footage almanacnews.com. This illustrates the point that flow was paramount – even when adapting spaces, maintaining the ease of movement and openness of the original design keeps the Eichler spirit alive. It’s also worth noting Eichler homes were single-story, which inherently improves flow (no stairs or level changes to navigate). Secondary spaces thus truly flow one into the next: for example, the hall closet might back up to the bathroom wall, which in turn opens next to a sliding glass door to outside – all on one plane. Many Eichler owners describe a “easy circulation” in the house, where you can loop through carport, atrium, living areas, and hall without hitting dead ends – a stark contrast to more traditional plans.

• Simplicity and Honesty: A final principle is the uncompromising simplicity with which Eichler’s architects detailed these homes. Secondary spaces were not dressed up with extra moldings, soffits, or decorative doors to “compensate” for their utility. Instead, Eichler embraced an honest expression: if a closet is along a wall, let it read as a series of plain panels; if a carport needs a support post, make it a straight 4x12 beam and celebrate its geometry. This lack of ornament might at first seem austere, but in context it feels intentional and serene. In period marketing, Eichler homes were sometimes described as “flexible” and “free of useless embellishment”, implying that the beauty lay in their adaptability and clarity. Secondary areas exemplify this: they are blank canvases that the occupants could use as needed (a carport could be a patio for a party, a hallway wall could display art precisely because it’s unadorned). The clean lines also made these spaces timeless. An Eichler closet door or open carport doesn’t really date – it was modern in 1955 and, when restored or well-kept, looks modern in 2025. This is a testament to the power of Eichler’s restrained design approach.

Case Studies: Preservation and Adaptation in Action

To better understand the significance of these secondary spaces, it’s useful to look at a few real-world examples of Eichler homeowners and architects tackling them in recent years:

• Restoring Original Closets in Sacramento: Zann Gates and Jeff Roush fell in love with a 1955 Eichler in Sacramento that retained many original details. While they upgraded systems for energy efficiency, they made a point to restore key mid-century elements, including the hallway and bedroom closets. By sourcing grasscloth and repainting the sliding doors in the original style, they recaptured the mid-century charm that previous remodels had covered up atomic-ranch.com. Their effort illustrates a broader trend of treating even a closet door as an important piece of the design puzzle – an attitude very different from a generic remodeler who might rip out “old fashioned” closets and install generic mirrored sliders. The couple’s pride when those grasscloth doors were finished speaks to how secondary spaces contribute to the overall ambiance. “It warm[s] up the look,” Zann says of reintroducing the textured panels atomic-ranch.com. Now the hallway once again provides a cohesive backdrop as you move through it, rather than reminding you of a 1980s renovation.

• Carport to Living Space Conversion in Palo Alto: In 2008, architectural designer Leena Kharkar-Kalakkad undertook a major remodel of her Palo Alto Eichler home, which included converting the original carport into a new family room almanacnews.com. This adaptation was driven by the need for more interior space for her family, a common wish among Eichler owners. However, Leena approached it thoughtfully: she raised the carport floor to the level of the house, extended matching flooring into it, and crucially added skylights and clerestory windows in the former carport’s roof almanacnews.com. By doing so, she maintained the bright, open feel that a carport inherently had, even as it became enclosed living area. A short partition and partial wall were added to define the entry, but plants and a curved pathway in front nod to the original open courtyard concept almanacnews.com. Leena noted that improving the circulation was a key challenge – which she solved by opening a wall in the hallway and using sliding shoji screens, allowing the new living room, entry, and original hall to flow together almanacnews.com. This case study is instructive: it’s possible to repurpose a secondary space like a carport for contemporary needs, yet if done with respect for Eichler principles (continuous flooring, plenty of glass, exposed beams retained, etc.), the result can “honor its roots” as Leena intended almanacnews.com. Her home today has no carport, but a visitor would still sense Eichler’s ethos in the airy, connected spaces from front door to family room.

• Reversing Alterations in an Oakland “Lost Eichler”: Designer Indhira Rojas and her partner Jason restored a 1965 A-Frame Eichler in Oakland with an eye toward undoing past modifications. A previous owner had enclosed the open-air atrium and even covered over the backyard pool – effectively privatizing or eliminating the transitional spaces that made the house special dwell.com. Indhira’s approach was to peel back those layers and “return the space to its timeless design” dwell.com. When they removed the additions, the central atrium was reborn, once more connecting hallways, living room and outdoor areas in one continuous flow. They also reinstated the open carport feeling at the front by ensuring the two A-frame gables had the correct open span between them (the atrium sits between the bedroom wing and living wing, viewable from the street). This project shows how much these secondary spaces contribute to Eichler’s “original splendor”. The house went from feeling disjointed and closed-in (with those ill-advised enclosures) back to open and expansive – even though the overall square footage didn’t change. “If we just removed a lot of these layers, we could restore the house to its original intent,” Indhira explains dwell.com. That intent was clearly to have an interplay of indoor and outdoor, primary and secondary, all working in harmony. In the finished restoration, the atrium is once again an outdoor hallway of sorts, the pool is an outdoor room, and the sightlines from the front entry through to the back are clear. The success of the project, now frequently cited in Eichler forums, underlines how vital those in-between spaces are to an Eichler’s character – so much so that covering them up had nearly “lost” the Eichler, and uncovering them brought it back.

• Modern Enhancements in a Palo Alto Eichler: Another example comes from Palo Alto, where a pair of Eichler owners worked with designers Lori and Justin Pecikonis to renovate a 1970s Eichler for use as a luxury rental atomic-ranch.com. In this case, many original features were intact, but the owners wanted to refresh the look. They opted to replace the missing closet doors in the hallway with new ones that had a warm wood tone, complementing the mostly white interior atomic-ranch.com. The original grasscloth screens were gone, but rather than install generic mirror doors often seen in remodels, they chose a mid-century appropriate wood finish. This subtle decision keeps the hallway in character with Eichler design. Additionally, they preserved the home’s interior atrium and made it a focal point for guests – showing a recognition that even a space that doesn’t directly produce revenue (an atrium or hall) adds immense experiential value. Guests could drink a coffee in the atrium or enjoy the open layout, proving Eichler’s secondary spaces still enchant people when highlighted properly atomic-ranch.com. The fact that in marketing the rental, the atrium and open carport are touted as part of the “unique experience” confirms that these design elements are assets, not liabilities, in a modern context.

These case studies collectively demonstrate two paths: faithful restoration of secondary spaces to preserve Eichler’s intent, and sensitive adaptation of those spaces to meet contemporary needs. Both paths, when guided by knowledge of Eichler’s philosophy, result in homes that continue to celebrate the modernist ideal that even the most ordinary parts of a home can be beautiful and meaningful.

Eichler vs. Conventional Postwar Homes: A Comparative Glance

Design Aspect
Eichler Homes (CA, 1950s–60s)
Conventional Postwar Homes (1950s ranch/tract style)

Car Storage
Open carport under main roof; no garage door. Carport integrated into front facade, encouraging interaction and showcasing the car.
Enclosed one- or two-car garage common (attached or detached). Solid garage door faces street, creating a private storage for car and clutter.

Entry & Foyer
Often no indoor foyer – entry is through a covered porch or atrium court. Immediate visual connection to interior and backyard upon entering.
Small dedicated foyer or entry hall inside front door, sometimes with a coat closet. Generally a more closed entry – solid front door, limited view into home.

Hallways
Minimal and short. Hallways serve bedroom wing only, often day-lit via skylight or end window. Hall surfaces flush and often paneled, giving a clean line of sight.
Longer central hallways typical, connecting rooms off a single corridor. Often windowless and purely functional. Could feel dark or cramped.

Closets & Storage
Limited storage: 1–2 hall closets + bedroom closets. No attic or basement. Closets use sliding doors that blend with interior design.
More abundant storage: attics, basements, and multiple closets (entry, linen, bedroom). Hinged doors with trim, usually visually distinct.

Laundry Area
Integrated in main house: in a hall closet, kitchen closet, or bathroom. Designed to be accessible and discreet.
Commonly in utility rooms, basements, or garages. Typically separated from main living areas.

Utilities (Furnace, etc.)
Centrally located in compact closets. Radiant heating in floors eliminates need for ducts or vents. Electrical panels flush-mounted.
Furnaces and water heaters usually in basements or garages. Ductwork visible; utility closets more exposed inside the house.

Outdoor Transitions
Designed as “rooms” – patios, atriums, breezeways. Flooring and rooflines create indoor-outdoor unity.
Outdoor areas separated by back door or porch. Breezeways less common. Garage/carport not typically livable or integrated into design.

Material & Finish
Consistent finishes across all spaces. Secondary areas share the same ceiling, flooring, and wall materials. Exposed beams throughout.
Different finishes by room. Utility areas often unfinished or painted differently. More moldings, trim, and decorative variation.

To appreciate Eichler’s unique treatment of secondary spaces, it helps to compare it with the typical suburban ranch houses of the same era (late 1940s–1960s). The differences are illuminating:

In summary, Eichler homes broke from the conventions of their day by treating secondary spaces as an integral part of the architectural experience rather than just necessary appendages. While a typical 1950s homeowner might have considered the garage and hallway as merely utilitarian, Eichler and his architects saw an opportunity to innovate – turning the carport into a pavilion, the atrium into an outdoor foyer, the hallway into a gallery, and the closet into a seamless design element. This comparison highlights how revolutionary Eichler’s tract homes were. They delivered a level of design cohesion and modern living concept that mass-market houses rarely attempted. The trade-offs (less storage, unconventional layouts) were deliberate gambles on a new way of life, one that valued openness, community, and simplicity over storage space and formality. Many Eichler owners will attest that these differences are exactly why they love their homes – even if it means finding creative ways to store their holiday decorations.

A classic California Eichler home in Palo Alto with an open carport exemplifies Joseph Eichler’s modernist approach to even the “marginal” spaces of a house. Rather than hiding functional areas behind closed doors, Eichler integrated them into the overall design, embracing openness, simplicity, and the indoor-outdoor ethos of mid-century modernism.

Conclusion: The Legacy of Eichler’s “Marginal Modernism”

Joseph Eichler’s contributions to mid-century architecture are often discussed in terms of atriums, glass walls, and post-and-beam silhouettes, but as we have explored, the secret lives of secondary spaces in Eichler homes are just as fascinating and vital to the overall design. Eichler elevated carports, hallways, closets, and utility rooms from purely functional status to something approaching an art form of practicality. In doing so, he anticipated many ideas that resonate with today’s design-savvy homeowners: reducing excess, blurring indoor and outdoor living, and ensuring that even utilitarian areas receive aesthetic care.

Architects and historians now recognize that Eichler’s “marginal” spaces were in fact central to his architectural philosophy of democratic, inclusive design – spaces for living were everywhere, not just in the living room. As one restoration architect put it, restoring an Eichler is like tuning a fine instrument: every piece, no matter how small, has a purpose in the symphony. That includes the note of a sliding closet door gliding in its track, the rhythm of beams marching out over a carport, the glow of a globe lamp lighting a once-dark corner of a hall. In Eichler homes, the beauty truly is in the details, and every space matters.

Today, as mid-century modern homes age into historic status, the secondary spaces we’ve examined sometimes need updates – but the guiding principle is clear: honor the original intent. Whether that means preserving a quirky built-in appliance cabinet or reopening a closed-off atrium, homeowners and architects are finding that keeping Eichler’s DNA intact is more rewarding than replacing it. The growing movement of Eichler restorers in California treat features like hollow-core Lauan closet doors or open-air carports with the reverence one might give to vintage Eames furniture – they are part of the design heritage. And when adaptations are necessary, the best ones channel Eichler’s spirit: creative, unpretentious, and human-centered.

In the final analysis, Modernism in the Margins teaches us that great design isn’t only about grand facades or dramatic living rooms. It’s also about the subtle choreography of daily life – parking the car, storing the broom, walking to the bedroom – and how thoughtful design can make those routines delightful. Eichler understood this, and his legacy lives on in the carports that still proudly have no doors, the closets that slide open with ease, the atriums that surprise and delight visitors, and the simple, light-filled halls that lead us through our homes. These are the “secret lives” of Eichler’s secondary spaces: when revealed and appreciated, they are not secondary at all, but central to why these mid-century homes remain so beloved in the 21st century.

Sources: Modern preservationists, architects, and homeowners have shared insights that informed this report. Key references include mid-century historical analysesmid2mod.blogspot.com mcgill.ca, expert commentary on design principles candysdirt.com atomic-ranch.com, and firsthand accounts of Eichler restorations in California atomic-ranch.com almanacnews.com. These sources, along with Eichler’s original plans and contemporary evaluations, underscore the enduring wisdom in how Eichler Homes treated the “margins” of modernism – turning functional necessity into an opportunity for innovation and elegance.

Sources