A rousing encore for the Eichlers

But what caught his interest was a light-filled midcentury modern home on the curve of a cul-de-sac in Orange. The single-story had a massive living room outlined in windows that streamed into the backyard so seamlessly that it was hard to know if the dog was inside or out.

From the sofa, he and Holly could supervise the comings and goings of their four children: through the front door, in the kitchen, at their bedroom doors, even off to school through a gate in the back fence.

The house offered the kind of eyes-on parenting that Allen was familiar with: He grew up in a look-alike house right next door, where his parents, who bought it new in 1964, still live. The houses were built by Joseph Eichler, the influential, uncompromising developer and liberal taste-maker to the midcentury middle class.

"I like the view out the windows, the light, the way the house functions and that it doesn't make me feel closed in," says Allen, 43, a civil engineer.

Eichler was the first California builder to hire progressive architects to translate Frank Lloyd Wright's and the experimental Case Study House custom designs into affordable tract houses.

From 1949 to 1974, Eichler Homes mass-produced 575 houses in Orange, Granada Hills and Thousand Oaks as well as 60 in Sacramento and 10,365 in the Bay Area.

Although Eichler was not an architect, the homes his company built are known as "Eichlers" in the same esteemed way people refer to "Schindlers" and "Neutras."

Many original owners such as Allen's parents, who took a chance on the then-radical style, have stayed put. And now, the Eichler promise of clutter-free living is attracting a new crop of young families drawn to the dwellings' livability, adaptability and timeless design.

"One of the great achievements of Eichler homes is that they are permissive and have a chameleon capacity," says Matt Kahn, who decorated the interiors for the Eichler models a half century ago. "The structure isn't dictatorial. It can change moods with the inhabitants, from generation to generation."

Over the decades, the functional houses have evolved, as Eichler expected his do-it-yourself-energized owners would change them. Master bedrooms have been enlarged, kitchens updated and laundry rooms converted into home offices.