Development

Wurster envisioned a development that would combine an idealistic sense of community with a modernist design aesthetic and an awareness of regional traditions. He wanted a property that could be subdivided and developed as a community that reflected his and Catherine’s philosophy of socially engaged architecture -- that “a community defined by a group of homes could influence the way their owners lived.” As a developer-resident, he wanted to build a social community of interesting, creative, and educated individuals. As an architect and architectural educator, he wanted this small residential community to demonstrate the highest standards of housing and garden design in California.

Wurster subdivided the land into twelve parcels and organized the group – primarily academic and professional colleagues – that bought Greenwood Common, and he devised a compelling neighborhood plan so that the center lot was owned by everybody. While seeking interested parties to live there, he even asked Buckminster Fuller and Vernon DeMars, his friends from MIT to “buy in”. By 1952 Greenwood Common, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation had become the property’s legal governing entity.

All the residences on the Common are prototypical examples of Bay Area Regional Modernism: that symbiotic relationship between modernism and local tradition, and between indoor and outdoor spaces; reflecting the California lifestyle, mild climate, geography, and materials. The site design of the Common was carefully configured to provide privacy for every house and to provide points of entry for both pedestrians and vehicles. 

The plan comprises two flanks of residences that run east-west: on the north flank are the lots numbered 1 to 4; on the south, those numbered 8 to 10. The remodeled Schindler house on lot 7 terminates the north flank on the bay side. Lots 5 and 6, the two center lots were never developed. The expectation of homes on these lots explains the plum allée, possibly why the houses on the north side of the lawn were fenced, and why the two houses on the south side of the central green face away from the Common. The south side was developed first. 

As house construction began, Wurster personally engaged with both the residents and their architects, and despite not being a member of the Common, he maintained a strong interest—both personally and professionally—in its construction although he tried not to dictate his tastes or ideas. He did however, have a professional relationship with most of the architects who designed homes for the Common. Both Donald Olsen and John Funk had worked in his office, Howard Moïse and Joseph Esherick were members of the architecture faculty at Berkeley, and he knew Harwell Harris and Henry Hill through professional circles.

The Common was granted landmark status in 1990. Lot 9 had been purchased in the late 1980s with the intention of adding a second story to the house. This proposal raised issues from two perspectives. One side worried that the increased height would distort Hill’s original design, cast more of the Common into shade affecting the survival of the plum trees, block views from the homes on the north side, and change the Common’s “entire nature and architectural integrity.” The other side felt that the individual homeowner had a right to make changes to his or her property.  In response to this situation, the homeowners applied to the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission in December 1989.