San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Hot Property
The three-bedroom Berkeley home offers grand proportions and elegant woodwork.
The home at 2917 Ashby Ave. in Berkeley has changed hands a number of times since it first came to be more than a century ago. But two things have remained steadfast: its grand proportions and elegant woodwork. “Everybody who owned it has kept the original architectural elements and they have not gone mucking with it,” said Laura Arechiga of the Grubb Co., who is listing the stuccoed prairie-style home for $1.595 million. “There’s beautifully figured original woodwork and built-ins with wavy glass and glass knobs.”
The respect for tradition has not prevented capital improvements to the threebedroom, however. A heated floor lines one of the home’s updated bathrooms.
The kitchen offers a refur-
bished Wedgewood stove and opens to a recently built redwood deck overlooking a tranquil rear garden. Public rooms and bedrooms offer plenty of space for everyday living, while thoughtful built-ins lend considerable storage.
“Every room is spacious and gracious,” Arechiga said.
Arechiga’s clients have lived in the home for more than 10 years and paid special attention to the gardens, she said.
Strawberries, blueberries, rosemary and thyme sprout from a bountiful landscape bearing apple, Asian pear and orange trees. Flowering ivy, boxwood hedges and big leaf hydrangeas frame a circular lawn. Planter boxes and shade trees rest beside a slate patio set toward the back of the garden.
The deck off the kitchen, built in 2017, incorporates a ring of three mature redwoods. These trees have been shaved of many of their branches, enabling as much sunlight as possible to flood over the backyard.
“I love homes with kitchens that open to the backyard,” Arechiga said. “It creates a really nice flow that’s great for entertaining.”
Learn more at www.2917ashby.com.
Listing agent: Laura Arechiga, the Grubb Co., 510-701-5188, laura.arechiga@gmail.com.