Fergus Garber Architects Redesign Modern Maybeck in Atherton
Fergus Garber Architects redesigned the Modern Maybeck house in Atherton, California, embracing early 20th-century architectural principles. The design, completed in 2022, retains a few outer walls to preserve the home’s expansive footprint and reimagines the layout. The new home, inspired by Bernard Maybeck’s iconic style, features heavy timber specially sourced and assembled on-site, aiming to blend modern refinement with a sense of familiarity and ruggedness.
Guided by the design principles of early 20th century California architects, a family’s longtime Atherton property gets a stately new abode set in a lush landscape.
Sometimes, all it takes is a fresh perspective. This was the case for FGA’s Atherton clients, empty-nesters, who were eager to reimagine their home of many years as they embarked on their next chapter: hosting grandchildren.
To start, FGA kept a few outer walls to preserve the home’s more expansive footprint, while opening up and reimagining the layout.
The new home with a grand entry hall is oriented to highlight the long garden view. Stylistically, the goal was to lend the new home an older aesthetic that suited the surrounding neighborhood – a home that “felt like the oldest house on the block,” in the words of the client.
The structure also recalls the iconic style of Bernard Maybeck who designed the husband’s childhood home. FGA studied Maybeck’s methods for intricately layering rafters, outriggers, and brackets to create a sense of familiarity and ruggedness, but modified elements to feel modern and refined. The heavy timber was specially sourced, carefully measured, cut and numbered offsite, and then meticulously reassembled on the premises.
Photography courtesy of Fergus Garber Architects
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