We bought our home a few years ago now. I was hoping we might find a home that really felt quintessentially Californian, and really mark a change from our life in New York. The house we found (and immediately loved) is a mid-century modern home that was designed by Carter-Sparks and built by the Streng brothers—who still have an office in town!—back in 1964. It turns out that these homes’ design is optimal for the hot Sacramento Valley: you get a lot of light, but extended eaves keep the direct sun off of the windows.
As you can imagine I’d done as much research about these as possible at the time. Â But my favorite bit of the research process was getting taken on a tour of a largely untouched Streng by a neighbor. I just came across these photos and regret not taking more. Between the plant-filled atrium and the crimson shag, it’s really fantastic.
One of the best articles I came across was in CA Modern and talks about the influence of and similarities with homes by Joe Eichler: “Eichler never made much impact in California’s hot Sacramento Valley. But his work profoundly influenced two brothers [Bill and Jim Streng] who created their own modernist neighborhoods in Davis and greater Sacramento.”
It goes on to talk about the indoor atriums one might find: “Sparks designed homes for a hot climate, which means air-conditioning and no radiant heat. ‘It’s a house you can live in, in this valley,’ says Bill Streng. It also means atriums that are open to living areas—not walled in with glass, which would have created a ‘hot box.’ Instead of being open to the air, like an Eichler, the Streng atrium is domed with tinted acrylic to block heat. Eichler built a similar ‘atrium’ in some homes which he called a ‘gallery.'”
The gentleman who lives in the house showed us the ink/watercolor sketches he’s done of the home over the years.
Even though there are a lot of these homes in Davis, they had fallen out of favor for a long time and many have been remodeled in ways that try to hide their age. It was so fantastic to get a peek into such an original residence—in all the word’s senses.
P.S. Here’s an old ad for Streng homes with some more article links. Also, a tour of Davis and our home tour.
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