In September 2019, Emlen Fischer and Ayla Christman saw a listing for a 1966 modernist home with a roof that crumpled low over the earth in Palo Alto, Calif., and were intrigued.
As renters, they never expected to buy a home in the tech-centric city. “You don’t get all that much for the money,” said Mr. Fischer, 43, an executive at Factorial Energy, a battery startup. But, “I had a bit of a Trulia addiction,” he added, noting that he kept an eye on the real estate market anyway.
“We were just looking at houses recreationally, on Saturdays or Sundays,” explained Ms. Christman, 41, an interiors photographer. “We’d take our kids, and they’d run through the houses and hide in closets. It was all just for curiosity’s sake.”
When they visited this particular house, however, they didn’t even make it down the driveway before everything changed. “Ayla and I saw the roof line, looked at each other, and we were like ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to have to buy this place,’” Mr. Fischer said.
The house was designed by Aaron Green, an architect who was a close associate of Frank Lloyd Wright, and built by Eichler Homes. When Mr. Fischer and Ms. Christman stepped inside, they discovered that the 1,590-square-foot house was essentially a time capsule, with most of its original finishes and fixtures, including custom furniture Mr. Green designed for the house, still in place.
The untouched nature of the house was both good and bad: it hadn’t been compromised by a clumsy renovation but it was in desperate need of upgrades. The home had inefficient single-pane windows, dated heating and electrical systems, failing appliances, and an ant problem.
Mr. Fischer and Ms. Christman weren’t sure the compact house would be large enough for their family, which now includes three children: Nico, 11, Zeke, 8 and Frieda, 3. But faced with such a striking home for an affordable-for-Palo-Alto price, they couldn’t resist. They bought it for about $2.7 million that October.
“It was within our budget,” Ms. Christman said. “And most other things just weren’t.”
They moved in to get a feel for the house as they began working with the architect Neal Schwartz, founder of the firm Schwartz and Architecture, on renovation plans. Hoping to retain Mr. Green’s design intent as much as possible, they started by considering piecemeal changes. Before long, however, the project grew into a complete overhaul of the main house, an addition and two new outbuildings.
“It’s one of those houses you look at and say ‘Oh, I wouldn’t change a thing,’” Mr. Schwartz said. “But then as you get to know it, you think, ‘Oh, well, we probably should change some things.’”
For instance, the ceiling at the front of the house was high enough to allow for a bright, airy living room, but it descended to only six feet at the back, creating a dark, claustrophobic kitchen. To make it more appealing, the architect cut the existing beams and added extensions to raise the ceiling at the back of the house.
Where there was a carport beneath another section of low roof, Mr. Schwartz excavated into the earth and enclosed the space to create a sunken conversation pit.
For a new primary suite, he placed an addition to one side, but gave it a boxy shape and finished it in stucco to make it distinct from the original structure. The changes brought the size of the house up to 3,100 square feet. To accommodate a guest suite, and a gym and home office, Mr. Schwartz added two outbuildings measuring 288 and 215 square feet in the yard.
For interior design advice, Ms. Christman booked a one-hour video call with Sarah Sherman Samuel, an interior designer based in Grand Rapids, Mich., through the online service The Expert. It went so well that the conversation blossomed into an agreement to have Ms. Sherman completely design the interiors.
“I fell in love with the project,” Ms. Sherman said, explaining that she was already a fan of Mr. Green’s architecture.
The designer chose materials, finishes and furniture that she hoped would personalize the home without looking out of place. “The family is so vibrant and fun, and they wanted a lot of prints, patterns and colors,” Ms. Sherman said. In response, she reupholstered cushions for the furniture Mr. Green designed in patterned fabric and lined some of the bedrooms in playful wallpaper while otherwise running with a palette of warm neutrals.
To tie the various parts of the property together, including the expanded house and new outbuildings, the team hired Boxleaf Design to complete the landscape architecture. The result is a parklike yard of tall grasses, trees and flowers sliced by stone pathways.
After beginning construction in July 2021, the builder Marrone & Marrone completed work in September 2023. The total cost was about $1,000 per square foot.
The project was far more work, and a much larger investment, than simply renting another home, but Mr. Fischer and Ms. Christman are delighted with how it worked out.
“We feel very fortunate to be here,” Ms. Christman said. “We’re already making some amazing memories.”
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