Berkeley architect’s mid-century home hits market for $1.4M

Hal Thiederman, who is best known for his work on the Kaiser hospitals, lived in the home for decades

Hal Thiederman with 205 Lake Drive (redfin.com, iStock)
Hal Thiederman with 205 Lake Drive (redfin.com, iStock)

A Berkeley Hills mid-century that for decades was home to a noted Bay Area architect has hit the market.

Hal Thiederman, a 1948 graduate of UC Berkeley who died at 88 in 2010, and his wife, Elivia, bought the home at 205 Lake Drive in 1962, SFGate reported. The Thiedermans remodeled and expanded the small two-bedroom into a 2,240-square-foot home. It’s listed for $1.395 million.

Thiederman was best known for working with Edgar Kaiser and Sidney Garfield on the design of several Kaiser hospital buildings in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. His wife, who died last year at 99, was an artist who brought touches of color and African-influenced style to the home.

The home, the last house on the road, features some of the original mid-century details as well as Japanese-inspired architecture added by the couple. Sliding wall panels, floor-to-ceiling windows, and vintage clay lanterns are among its features.

On the main level, a living room has a beamed ceiling with a skylight, and the dining room opens onto a rooftop deck. The second level, down a spiral staircase, houses the primary bedroom with its own fireplace and wall of windows and another ensuite bedroom with large office space.

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The lower level of the home opens out to the rear garden and courtyard that Elivia filled with azaleas, rhododendrons, ferns, succulents and orchids to resemble Japanese gardens.

Nearby, in Oakland’s North Hills, Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali just bought a home for $1.2 million. The 2,100-square-foot home sits on almost a quarter acre.

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[SFG] — Victoria Pruitt