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For information on booking Villa Maybeck for private events, or renting its guest apartment for short-term visits, contact L. John Harris.

Great architecture can transcend changing tastes. Villa Maybeck does just that. Originally designed by Bernard Maybeck as an “Italian villa” for a divorced New York socialite in 1921, the Berkeley Hills house has evolved over the years into an airy family home and entertainment space that sits easily in the 21st century.

Maybeck is known for redwood-shingled Arts and Crafts houses, not Mediterranean villas. And yet the five-bedroom, three-bath house with a separate apartment on the lower floor still bears many signature Maybeck touches. The way the large arched windows are grouped; the oversized fireplace; the stairway hall, and the indoor-outdoor access are some examples. “I love the way the house has this spectacular view of the bay, and also an intimate, protected patio on the other side of the house where you can just relax and forget about the views,” says Anthony Bruce, executive director of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). The spacious “cloistered” patio has two fountains and can be accessed from the house via several large, arched French doors.

The house is featured in Mark Anthony Wilsons’ coffee table book, Maybeck: Architect of Elegance. Wilson wrote that the first thing a visitor notices upon entering the house is a “magnificent Renaissance-style staircase, made of polished oak with a rich, dark brown stain. The unusually wide stairs are framed by bulbous rounded balusters, the type one might see in a fifteenth-century Florentine palazzo." The broad living room (“sala”) with its soaring ceiling, stenciled beams and baronial-sized fireplace is ideal for concerts and cultural events.

The wealthy divorcée, Estelle Clark, commissioned the villa and lived in it with her adopted daughter and “only” two servants. She fell in love with Italian architecture on a trip to Europe after her divorce. Clark died in 1937 and two more owners took up residence before the current owner moved in in 2017. Villa Maybeck today is furnished with a tasteful collection of antiques, art and vintage musical instruments. The house is full of sculptural and architectural details, from the doorknocker that features two mermaids; to the twisted Bernini-styled wooden columns that were commissioned in Italy specifically for this space; to the cherubs in the Italian-Renaissance-inspired gardens.

Built on three parcels, the 4,237 square-foot, three-story house sits well back from the road at the end of a long driveway. It is surrounded by established formal gardens on three sides. The lower floor of the house was originally designed as servants quarters with two bedrooms. It has now been refurbished as a one-bedroom apartment for guests and short-term rentals.

From Florence to Berkeley, from the fifteenth century to the 21st, this elegant house travels remarkably well.