Designed by architect John Hudson Thomas and modeled on a 13th-century French monastery, the landmark Berkeley castle at 2900 Buena Vista Way has just hit the market for $5 million.
Built in 1929 for the son of James Hume, whose father was the Special Detective for Wells Fargo who brought Black Bart to justice, the 5,750 square foot “Hume Castle” now sits on a reduced ¾-acre parcel.
While a number of monastic rooms could benefit from a bit of updating, in general the property remains in great shape.
And the castle’s terrace still offers a big bay view.
Updating? dont change a thing!
You’re right. The wall-to-wall carpeting in the bedroom and difficult to maintain master bath are divine!
Well, the carpet does have to go, but if I had an extra five million to drop on this place, the minor extra expense of a full time grout-cleaning staff wouldn’t concern me.
The main rooms are fantastic. The bed-on-a-pedestal has got to go, though – that’s a recipe for a broken neck in the middle of the night!
My thought too (the midnight trip hazard). What is the benefit of placing a bed in a mini ziggurat like this? Not criticizing, just asking.
In “olden days” it made the bed higher in the room, away from the colder air and drafts (because cold air sinks).
Is that carpet by the bathtub?
Cool property, lots of work to be done. Is there a major seismic concern? Those stone walls would worry me, but I don’t know anything about this.
the entire berkeley hills area suffers from slowly creeping land slides, plus the hayward fault is not far away (less than half a mile I would guess). But if you are worried about ‘major’ sesmic concern, pretty much the entire bay area is susceptible – if not your house directly, then the roads, power, gas, water, telephone, sewer to get to your house are.
The walls aren’t stone. It’s poured concrete. I’d check out the extent of rebar before purchasing.
Hmmm… I may be wrong about the walls. Some sites say the stones were brought from Europe. Still… looks like poured concrete to me, at least in some pics.
How does one check the extent of rebar in a poured concrete wall?
penetrating radar scanning
Truly magnificent. Surely one of the architecturally best houses in northern California. Beyond anything I can recall on socketsite in this price range. Good size but not too big for a couple or small family.
Almost tempted to give up PacHts.
Sorry, but lack of a moat and drawbridge are deal breakers for me.
Looks really cool – although out of my price range, if there is an open house sunday i’ll have to check it out. Way better looking than the ‘spring mansion’ on 3 acres on arlington which was put up for sale a couple years ago for a mere $4m but it was in fairly rough shape (it may be still for sale, just not currently listed).
Am I missing something? No link to the listing?
click on the pictures to see the extras.
You are correct. There is no link to the listing in this post (as of 4/2/16 at 9am), which is unusual for SS.
I believe this may be the listing.
Per another poster, there is an open house on Sunday, but I searched the internet and could not find any confirmation of that.
Per my agent, there are no open houses, just one broker’s tour on Tuesday. Otherwise, viewings are by appointment. No children.
I got married in this house in the early 1980s. A wonderful place.
Other than the awful 70’s leftover green paint and tiling, I really like this place. But that really has to go. $5m for something like this in the SFBA is a bargain if you have it. Just needs some updating.
UPDATE: Landmark Berkeley Castle Price Cut $500K