BERKELEY BROWN SHINGLE

THE HOUSE OF MUSIC

Built in 1908, this large berkeley Brown shingle has been owned by the Fredricksons for 43 years and the walls reverberate with the music that was performed here over the years. Dave Fredrickson’s CD “Songs of the West” is made available through Smithsonian Folkways recordings and many renowned musicians played music and partied here, namely Kris Kristofferson, Terry Garthwaite and Toni Brown with their “Joy of Cooking” band, to name just a few.
A piece of the family history is recorded in the beautiful unique gold and silver foil ceiling in one of the bedrooms, which was done by Dave Fredrickson.
The house details are a combination of Victorian and Craftsman elements, with the coved ceilings and oval window upstairs reflecting the Victorian style. Zoned as a duplex, but used as a single family residence, it has flexibility, charm, much space, good indoor-outdoor access, a central location and awaits your personal touch.
Walk through the gate, onto a covered front porch and knock on the front door. Enter into a spacious foyer and then into the living and dining rooms, both with many large windows. Pocket doors close off the living room if desired, and both rooms have coved ceilings, wood trim, refinished oak floors and stained glass windows in the dining room.
The kitchen has sliding doors to a wrap around deck, which exits to the side yard and carport. Both bedroom and bathroom on this floor have sliding doors to the lower deck.
Walk up the stairs to 4 bedrooms and a bathroom. The northwest bedroom has this fantastic ceiling, previously mentioned, and some dual pane windows. All the bedrooms have good light with many windows. One of the bedrooms has a fireplace, as does the dining room, but the chimney was damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake, has not been repaired and so currently, the fireplaces cannot be used.
Both west facing bedrooms exit onto a large upper deck with flower boxes and stairs down to the carport. One of these bedrooms was a kitchen and still has all the plumbing in tact.
There is a covered porch off the hallway and bedroom and from here there are steps up to a developed attic with operable skylights and windows and lots of interesting angles. There are also storage areas up here and built-in window seats.
There are 2 offstreet parking places and a carport behind the gate. With a walkscore of 91, this central Berkeley location is close to Berkeley Bowl and near downtown and Ashby BART.
It is a solid, vintage property with history and with much potential.