Looking for Rummers
We're visiting family in Seattle, and I am hoping that someone can help us to find the Rummer houses that are Eichler copies. Also, is there any other interesting mid-century stuff we should see while we're here?
Thanks for the help.
Dave: Bob Rummer built most of his homes in the Portland, Oregon area. In the late 60s, a builder from the Tacoma area "borrowed" a set of plans from Rummer and built a half dozen homes in the Lakewood, WA area near Tacoma (which were copies Jones & Emmons style A-frames designed for Eichler). From what I have heard, these homes have been butcherded over the years and may not be worth the drive from Seattle.
I do know there are plenty of 50s and 60s modern tract and custome homes in the area. Paul Hayden Kirk, for example, designed hundreds of homes in the Seattle area.
Mid-century modern in Seattle? Hmmm. I would start with the Space Needle for one. The Northgate mall is another. You may try this site...
Drop Tom Holst, who runs the site, an email. He may be able to point you to some cool mid-century modern neighborhoods in the Seattle area.
If you want to drive three hours south to Portland, I can point you to hundreds of Rummer homes.
Joe,
We are going to Portland, so any directions you can supply will be greatly appreciated.
In the meantime, we'll head for the Space Needle.
A Seattle update:
Tom Holst, of http://www.seattlemodern.com set us up with a list of neighborhoods to see. We had a fabulous time! There are some gorgeous midcentury areas in Seattle.
Thanks to the Chatterbox Lounge and your help, we had a great time! :)
Joe B. gave us a list of all the Rummer neighborhoods in and around Portland. We saw them all and got a tour of a gorgeous atrium model. The layout is virtually identical to our Eichler.
It was a fascinating tour. I was under the impression that all the Rummers were atrium models, but this is not the case. There are all sorts of Eichler look-a-likes, some remeniscent of those found in Palo Alto's Green Meadow neigborhood.
Just like the Eichler neighborhoods, some of the houses are carefully maintained while others have been remodeled in bizarre ways.
The quality of materials and construction in the one we toured seemed to be at least as good as our Eichler.
The whole experience was a bit like visiting a parallel universe. It was great fun.
THANKS JOE B.
Actually. Rummer built his homes from 18 Eichler plans (10 of Claude Oakland design, 8 of Jones & Emmons design). None, which are from the older Greenmeadow tract. Most of the Rummer homes are from Walnut Creek and San Mateo Highlands plans. He really didn't alter the plans much either. A couple blue prints I matched almost were identical (98%).
I am glad you enjoyed the tour. While there are some really nice Rummers, there are a few bad ones too. But the trend is to restore or update with modernist sensitivity. Hopefully this will continue. The best thing is, though, they are still afforable at $250K!
