Modern house with gray exterior, large glass windows, a small porch with steps, and surrounded by trees and greenery.

CASTLE

Location: Berkeley, CA

Project Type: Renovation & ADU New Construction

Photographer: Isabelle Eubanks

When a San Francisco couple decided to cross the Bay, they weren't just looking for more square footage — they were looking for a different way to live. Berkeley offered what the city couldn't: a yard to garden, room to breathe, and the particular freedom that comes with owning a project house.

The clients — a couple with a deep appreciation for clean lines, uncluttered interiors, and the quiet confidence of well-made things — described a life less tethered. Extended trips. Long absences. The possibility of one day living abroad. From that desire, a strategy took shape: convert the detached single-car garage into a micro ADU, live in it during construction, then rent the main house to fund their adventures. The ADU wasn't an afterthought. It was the financial engine of the whole scheme.

The 1924 bungalow on McKinley Avenue — nicknamed "The Castle" for its turrets and ornamental facade — presented a clear design challenge: honor a building full of character while delivering the spare, modern interiors its new owners called home. The answer was to amplify the architecture's boldness on the outside and let it dissolve into calm within. The street facade was finished in slate-blue stucco, the existing monumental arched window preserved as the defining feature of the composition, and a sage-green arched door added to complete an exterior that feels graphic and confident against the leafy Berkeley streetscape. Inside, the front living room and its vaulted ceilings were retained and refined — stripped to a monolithic plaster fireplace, light oak floors, and black-framed glazing — while everything behind it was completely reprogrammed.

The most significant intervention came at the rear of the house, where an attic previously accessible only by ladder was opened up to create a dramatic double-height kitchen and family space. A birch-paneled vaulted ceiling rises over dark wood cabinetry, quartz countertops, and an induction island, while an 11' bay window frames the mature olive tree and garden beyond, dissolving the boundary between interior and the lush backyard. A winder staircase tucks neatly into the kitchen volume, rising to a skylit loft guest suite and home office beneath the eaves. The detached garage, converted to a micro ADU in matching blue stucco, completes the scheme — designed from the outset as both a construction-phase dwelling and a long-term rental, giving the owners the financial flexibility to pursue a life less anchored to one place.

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