Sunnyvale Manor I - Eichler custom artwork

Believe it or not, this is an Eichler… well, kinda. Joseph Eichler’s first foray into building housing developments in 1949 was Sunnyvale Manor I. The 36 homes in this community look very little like what most of us know as an “Eichler home” today. In fact, the company that built these homes at the time, didn’t even bear the Eichler name. Instead being called the Sunnyvale Building Company.

But whether you maintain that these homes are not Eichlers, or that they are, there’s no doubt they hold a significant place in mid century modern architectural history, and that they helped initiate the building of the homes we all know and love very shortly afterward under the Eichler Homes name, with long time collaborator Robert Anshen of Anshen + Allen.