OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

The Russian emigre architect, Serge Chermayeff (1900-1996) worked in the Bay Area in 1940-1941 lecturing at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA, and briefly collaborating with the Piedmont, CA, architect Clarence W.W. Mayhew (1906-1994) at this time. He became acquainted with faculty of the University of California, including Walter Horn (1908-1995) and Ernest Born (1898-1992). The trio created an initial plan for the Horn Residence before World War II; construction contracts were signed the week of 12/14/1941, but the war delayed actual construction. Horn was a Professor of Architectural History at the University of California, Berkeley, his specialty, medieval architecture; he worked with Born, to write the milestone study of the Swiss Benedictine abbey, Abbaye de Saint Gall, called The Plan of St. Gall in Brief, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982). Previously, Born and Horn also collaborated on The Barns of the Abbey of Beaulieu at Its Granges of Great Coxwell and Beaulieu St. Leonard, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965). He lived here with his wife, Alberta West Parker, and their three children.

A number of University of California Berkeley faculty lived in the neighborhood of Point Richmond, particularly on waterfront property along Western Drive. These included Professor of Slavic Languages Alexander Kaun (1889-1944), 112 Western Drive, Professor of Landscape Architecture H. Leland Vaughan (1905-1974), 311 Western Drive, and Professor of French Language and Literature, Mathurin Dondo (1884-1968), 215 Western Drive. The Horn House was located on a steep hill, with the house projecting out over the down slope. Posts that tapered elegantly from top to bottom supported the projection. The lot in 2011 contained 6,500 square feet. At this time, the residence had 1,476 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. The original portion of the house was a polygon, with north and south sides glazed. The prime views of Marin County and the Golden Gate were to the southwest, and the living room, study and bedroom shared this perspective. (The house also had a view of the Chevron oil storage tanks nearby.) A small kitchen placed originally in the northeast corner. Landscape architect Garrett Eckbo configured a terrace sheltered from the area's strong winds lay on the north side of living room. Another sheltered outdoor living area was placed below the living room on the southwest corner of the lot. The windward side of the house, prone to squalls and wind, had a stout, metal frame covered in weather-resistant stucco, while the architects clad the rest of the dwelling in flush redwood boards over wood framing.

Born and Chermayeff designed the house to added onto incrementally; alterations occurred to the house in 1951 and 1954. Born supervised construction of an bedroom wing extending north toward Western Drive. While Chermayeff worked with Born on the initial design, it does not appear that he had a hand in later alterations, as he was working at universities in Chicago and the East Coast in the 1950s.

PCAD id: 10841