{"id":734370,"date":"2026-08-11T08:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/734370\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T08:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:38:25","slug":"award-winning-architects-home-in-san-francisco-is-already-off-the-market-after-being-listed-for-899000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/734370\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning architect\u2019s home in San Francisco is already off the market after being listed for $899,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you are ever sailing in San Francisco Bay <\/a>and catch a glimpse of a glowing, shingled structure, you have stumbled upon Lumiere House. <\/p>\n

The unique home was built by the late award-winning architect Walter Thomas Brooks and his family in Point Richmond around 50 years ago and remained their home until recently. The home first hit the market on July 14, with an asking price of $899,000.<\/p>\n

At just 1,186 square feet, it has a cozy vibe with two bedrooms and one bathroom and plenty of detailed woodwork. There\u2019s also a beloved feature of 1970s homes – the conversation pit. But its major selling point is the massive windows that wrap around the home and open up the space with stunning views of the famed Golden Gate Bridge. <\/p>\n

Brooks, known for his nature-inspired architectural style, came across the 6,500 square-foot plot of land for a client, who subsequently passed on it. But Brooks could not move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe fell in love,\u201d his daughter Carrie Brooks, 72, told The Independent. \u201cIt faces west to the water, the setting sun, with Mount Tamalpais on the other side of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe unique home, made of amber-colored plexiglass and shingles, overlooks San Francisco Bay and is listed for $899,000 (Open Homes Photography)\"TheThe Lumiere House, as the property is called, hit the market for the first time since the late award-winning architect Walter Thomas Brooks and his family built it in the early 1970s (Carrie Brooks)<\/p>\n

Carrie said the concept of Lumiere House came to her father \u201cover a long period of experimenting with natural shapes and light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walter Thomas Brooks was born just before the Great Depression into a modest household in Illinois<\/a>. He met his wife Jean while studying at the University of California, Berkeley, which has one of the most renowned architecture programs in the country. <\/p>\n

The couple married and had four children. By the mid-1960\u2019s, Brooks created his own architecture firm.<\/p>\n

Before the Lumiere House, Brooks worked on a line of \u201cpetal houses\u201d in California<\/a>, featuring broad roof overhangs shaped like flower petals. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was also quite taken with the idea of a spiral museum, but he never built one,\u201d Carrie said. \u201cHe studied ancient structures, particularly in Mexico. Not just the structure, but for example, the texture of age old pyramids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brooks'Brooks’ daughter, Carrie, said the concept of Lumiere House came to her father \u2018over a long period of experimenting with natural shapes and light\u2019 (Open Homes Photography)\"CarrieCarrie remembers family gathering around a conversation pit that turned into a sunken, circular dining table, for \u2018every birthday, holiday and celebration\u2019 in the home (Carrie Brooks)<\/p>\n

The property\u2019s listing agent, Terry Tilley, told The Independent that the Brooks family had accepted one of six offers on the home. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe person who landed the home seems like they have the intention to restore it,\u201d Tilley said. <\/p>\n

The home has a first floor and two mezzanine levels filled with natural light from windows that wrap around the front and sides of the prow-shaped home. There\u2019s a living room, bathroom and a galley kitchen with exposed wooden shelves and countertops on the first floor. A nook with a built-in bed on the ground level serves as the primary bedroom.<\/p>\n

The first mezzanine level includes a long, built-in desk and chairs, perfect for either eating a meal or working from home. There\u2019s also storage for books and another nook used as a sleeping area. <\/p>\n

The second mezzanine level is smaller, only fitting a few chairs, an electric piano and another built-in desk. <\/p>\n

Tilley said that the views are the best part about the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite features of this home are the soaring living room with views to the bay, where I watch seals and sailboats, and birds plunging into the water,\u201d she said. \u201cI also love the vistas from around the property and the zen quality of the fern grotto.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe house\u2019s major selling point is the massive windows that wrap around it and open up the space with stunning views of the famed Golden Gate Bridge (Open Homes Photography)\"There\u2019sThere\u2019s a living room, bathroom and a galley kitchen with exposed wooden shelves and countertops on the first floor (Open Homes Photography)<\/p>\n

The home is surrounded by nature with fruit trees, ferns, fish ponds and reflecting pools. <\/p>\n

Professionals completed the rough construction of Lumiere House but Brooks\u2019 family finished the finer details, including cutting out each shingle that would cover the space between the windows. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe true scope of what we would be contributing was not clear to me,\u201d said Carrie, who was just a teenager when she helped construct the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe large sheets of amber-colored plexiglass were delivered to a warehouse with a setup to cut shingles. I cannot remember how long this took, but it was after school and weekends for quite a long time. We also predrilled the holes for screws on each shingle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrie said that her father was inspired by the plastic material at an exhibit he saw during a family trip to Montreal in 1967. \u201cHe loved the reflective character of that plexiglass and, unknown to us, started thinking about possible uses,\u201d Carrie said. <\/p>\n

She remembers buying gear at a military surplus store that would secure her and her brother to scaffolding so they could put the shingles on the house. <\/p>\n

\"AA nook with a built-in bed on the ground level serves as the primary bedroom (Open Homes Photography)\"TheThe first mezzanine level includes a long, built-in desk and chairs, perfect for either eating a meal or working from home (Open Homes Photography)<\/p>\n

The Lumiere House has a conversation pit that turns into a sunken, circular dining table, which Carrie remembers fondly. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur growing family shared every birthday, holiday and celebration around the round sunken pit with the sun setting for 50 years. We loved, loved, loved it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The table was covered for the open houses for safety reasons, Carrie explained. <\/p>\n

But there is one feature that the home is missing \u2014 insulation. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy father intended to put insulation and wallboard on the inside,\u201d Carrie said. \u201cBut after we got that first course on, and he saw how the layered plexiglass looked on the interior, and he scrapped the insulation immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrie admitted that hot and cold temperatures were a \u201cchallenge,\u201d but it was something her family was able to deal with. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents grew up in a time without air-conditioning, fans or heaters, so they made do, and those of us who lived or visited the house were the same,\u201d she said, adding that the new owners will probably want to invest in a heat pump that transfers heat into or out of the home as needed. <\/p>\n

\"CarrieCarrie remembers cutting out each amber-colored plexiglass shingle that would line the outside of the home (Open Homes Photography)\"BrooksBrooks lived with his wife Jean in the house for more than 50 years until he died at the age of 97 in 2024 (Open Homes Photography)<\/p>\n

Brooks lived with Jean in the house for more than 50 years until he died at the age of 97 in 2024. Jean, now 97 and in need of personal care, has moved in with Carrie\u2019s sister.<\/p>\n

Carrie described the house as a \u201cone-of-a-kind\u201d property that has \u201chosted friends and family from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA British cousin came years ago and just wrote us…to say \u2018For me, it was once seen, never forgotten. An extraordinary and beautiful place,\u2019\u201d Carrie said.<\/p>\n

Carrie remembers her father as an \u201ceccentric, dare I say genius,\u201d at least to his family, \u201cthat encouraged everyone to think out of the box.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-734370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}