Having hit the market priced at $8.5 million in 2016, the award-winning “House of Light,” which was designed by the late modernist architect John Thodos and built on a wooded Menlo Park parcel back in 2010, ended up selling for $5,537,500, or roughly $1,099 per square foot, last year.

The roughly 5,000 square foot home, which features a concrete and steel frame which supports walls and ceilings of structural glass, “providing no apparent boundary between the [home’s] interiors and its lush yet tranquil outdoor surroundings,” is outfitted with five bedrooms and five and one-half baths.

And after 13 months of ownership, 625 Hobart Street is now back on the market with a $6.8 million price tag.

If you think you know the Menlo Park or Modernist markets, now’s the time to tell.

7 thoughts on “House of Light Returns Listed for a Million More”
  1. Despite all the glass and views of the lush wooded setting, you’re encapsulated in this house. There are only a few points of access to the garden – one from the living room, one from the study and one at the back end of the hall. Not having an easy indoor-outdoor relation will make it a tough sell on the Peninsula.

    1. Yes. Needs more open/ or sliding door as wall panels to exterior to open fully the walls. Its why i prefer streamlined MCM case study homes done in 40s -63 or FLLW Usonian plans from 40s or 50s with heated slab waxed floors and throw carpets or sheepskin on floor. The home here will look dated after another 10 – 15 yrs. Even any of FLLWs apprentices homes like those of John Lautner or John H. Howe or even Don Erickson from IL now deceased or Bart Princes homes (still living) are more in touch with surroundings and nature and fit onto site better and more tranquil.

    2. The windows here are meant to be picture windows, I believe. Sliding or swinging doors would break up the views of the outside. Besides, the only real need for garden access is at the back and the rear door is close to both rear bedrooms. Aside from that, I don’t think the nature of the yard here really lends itself to the kind of access you describe.

  2. Dark times for the House of Light: 40 days without a sale. It’s looking like the only thing that’s going to be lighter is the owner’s wallet.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *