Friday, August 14, 2009

Biz Stone Selling Northern California Nest

SELLER: Isaac "Biz" Stone
LOCATION: Greenwood Terrace, Berkeley, CA
PRICE: $575,000
SIZE: 808 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Designed & constructed by well-known Northern California Architect William Wurster, this mid-century cottage is a terrific example of Wurster’s signature modern style. Accentuating the use of natural light & open space, Wurster created a peaceful & stylistic home within a small footprint. Wurster, the namesake for UC Berkeley’s Wurster Hall, built this cottage as his own personal studio in 1960. The cottage features 2 bedrooms and 2 baths and is located just above Cordonices Park nestled in the Berkeley Hills.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Maybe we're just too old, too much of a Luddite or just too dedicated a contrarian, but as far as Your Mama is concerned tweeting and twittering and all that one-to-many network nonsense is for the birds. The last thing we want to know is what every damn person we know is doing every minute of the day and nobody needs to know that we're sitting here in our underpants having our second Kahlúa and coffee at seven in the damn morning. Okay?

This Twitter bizness was co-founded by a social media maven named Isaac "Biz" Stone who also had his hands in the creation of blogging communities like Xanga, Odeo and Blogger, the very software Your Mama uses for our little online endeavor. Anyhoo, some time ago we received a missive from a gal we'll call Diamod Lil–not Diamond Lil the drag queen, but another Diamond Lil–who whispered in our big ear that Biz recently listed his shingled, William Wurster designed cottage in Berkeley, CA for sale with an asking price of $575,000. We'd like to claim we're breaking some sort of real estate news here, but the truth of the matter is ol' Biz tweeted (or twittered or whatever) that he was selling his house a long time ago.

Regardless of our thoughts and opinions on the matter, this little thing called Twitter is quite popular with the teen and pre-teen populations not to mention celebrities like that alleged Christian/nekkid model/orgasm queen/publicity slut Heidi Montag and her equally mortifying huzband Spencer Pratt, Tila Tequila (whoever that is), and May/December duo Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher who are under the not entirely false impression that a lot of people care about their every thought and action.

But we digress...property records reveal that Biz picked up his itty-bitty 808 square foot nest in January of 2006 for $550,000 and listing information shows the tiny 2-story cottage, located in the foothills just north of UC Berkeley on leafy Greenwood Terrace, includes just 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

The apartment-sized house was originally designed and built in 1960 by noted and influential architect William Wurster as his personal studio. In 1928 Mister Wurster built the Gregory Farmhouse in Scotts Valley, CA that many consider the prototype of a classic California Ranch house. The architect worked in a warm but no-nonsense style that bridged the gap between old-school, period revival extravaganzas and the more austere architecture movement–let by modern masters like Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe–that was beginning to take hold among people rich enough to hire architects to custom design their domiciles.

At some point Mister Wurster's studio was converted to an upside-down private residence with the primary living spaces on the second floor. The living and dining room includes a wood burning fireplace, one large, floor to ceiling window, a skylight, shiny bamboo floors and a bunch of furniture from Ikea which makes Your Mama think the house is staged because what new money new media mogul would have a $299 Klippan loveseat from Ikea? What little we can see of the kitchen indicates it has been updated if not entirely upgraded and includes open shelving and stainless steel appliances.

A large sliding pocket door separates the living room area from the office or second bedroom space which has another faboo floor to ceiling window and leads to the home's primary pooper. The master bedroom, on the ground floor, has a gorgeous, organic Redwood ceiling, a nice amount of closet space and storage, and a small but nicely renovated bathroom. Also on the ground floor, in a basement like spaces, are a bunch of storage cabinets and laundry facilities.

Although this house is smaller than most apartments, Your Mama thinks this would make a stylish and well-located home for the child of a rich former hippie sending their child off to UC Berkeley to learn about free love, recycling, and how to organize a sit in to get McDonalds to start serving goat milk for the lactose intolerant.

We have no knowledge of his real estate plans or activities, but Your Mama presumes Biz is moving on (or has already moved on) to larger digs more suitable to a budding Silicon Valley honcho who probably makes money hand over fist even though Twitter is yet to turn a profit.

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