Joseph Eichler's 1956 steel X-100 house in San Mateo goes on sale

Joseph Eichler built his name on wood-framed family houses, but in 1956 he tried something different. In San Mateo Highlands he commissioned the X-100, a promotional prototype meant to test whether steel could change how homes were built. The opening brochure called it a research laboratory for new materials and methods, and within a few months more than 150,000 people had come to look.

Architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons gave it the elements that came to define postwar Californian living: exposed steel, broad glass, skylights, built-in furniture and garden courts. Today it covers 2,310 square feet, with three bedrooms, two living areas and an open kitchen, plus two bathrooms at the centre. Two interior gardens bring planting indoors, and sliding glass doors run the length of the back, framing the Santa Cruz Mountains.

It first sold for $47,000 in 1957 and has had four sets of owners. In 2016 it became the only Eichler house on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was restored the following year. It also turned out to be the last steel house Eichler built.

This is a private home on the market, not somewhere to visit, though its owner, Eichler Network director Marty Arbunich, occasionally runs educational tours. Worth reading for anyone drawn to California modernism.

Our summary of a story from Wallpaper*, published 13 October 2026. Read the original

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