104 Pala Avenue on the Market

The Quintessential Piedmont Brown Shingle!

[This blog is not about me, but some may not have heard that we moved from the Pala Avenue house up to 312 Pacific Avenue (still in central Piedmont) about 18 months ago.  Our tenants just bought a home, so now the Pala house is going on the market....]

The British would call it a “heritage” home; the New Zealanders a “character” home.  Under construction at Piedmont's founding, 104 Pala Avenue is a centrally located brown shingle uniting original handcrafted details with modern amenities, great flow, and the oh-so-rare five bedrooms up!

Can a New House Change your Life?

When a Piedmont home is within just a few blocks of:

-a recently rebuilt elementary school in addition to middle/high school,
-after school care,
-the town's emergency services,
-parks and playgrounds,
-casual carpool & WiFi-equipped express buses to downtown SF, and
-Piedmont Avenue shops, restaurants and theater,

your life becomes manageable again.

This house is in the Golden Rectangle, a six-block neighborhood just above Highland Ave. whose streets have no through traffic or parking problems, just sport basketball standards, games of catch, and bikes with training wheels.

Take time for that extra cup of coffee. Marvel at the century-old redwood in the backyard.  Revel in the East Bay's famous sunshine and warmth as it pours through the home's many windows. Invite a neighbor over to discuss the news.

A Unique History

Originally built in 1908 by Judah Magnes's cousin Irving, an East Bay attorney, the house offers unique Edwardian architectural details.  From the dining room's dramatic barrel ceiling to the coffered ceiling and original wainscot in the spacious entry and living room, the fine detail and honest materials are evident and honored.  The home's side garden entrance is a feature common in the neighborhood:  It emphasizes the transition from the hub-bub of public life to the privacy and tranquility of “home.”  Newer french doors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and slider visually and physically link the home's bright interior with the sunny outdoors.

The house more than doubled in size in the late '70s and early '80s.  Today, it offers the hard-to-find five large bedrooms upstairs as well as formal dining and living rooms, butler's pantry, library/office, large rumpus with wet bar, tons of storage, garage with interior access, and a dog-friendly fenced yard.

A Great Entertaining Home

Whether sit-down dinners for 18 or cocktail parties for 100, the well-organized kitchen, butler's pantry, staging area on the rear patio, and circular room flow support your entertaining.  Host anything from the soccer team's end-of-year celebration to fundraisers for your alma mater or favorite charity.  Wow your colleagues with the artisanry and history of the house, and the tree-lined streets for which Piedmont is so famous.  And on-street parking is never an issue--except on the 4th of July as the city's famous parade organizes across the street!

Eco-friendly Improvements

The current owners [that would be The Spouse and me] have carefully updated the home during their tenure--from money-saving dual-pane windows to added insulation to low-flow fixtures to electrical upgrades to occupancy- and vacancy-sensor switches to flash water heater to asbestos remediation and duct replacement to attic furnace installation--it's all been done with design-sense.  Relax in the spa-style Carrara marble master bath--the heated floors make morning routines so much less  routine! Relish the spacious and well-organized master closets.  Prep breakfast in the updated kitchen while the kids stay toasty in the adjacent family room, whose fireplace you can light at the touch of a button.  Manage music or the news from controls in the media closet.  And do it all while appreciating the original architectural details of this 1908 home.

See 104PalaAve.com for photos and more--