A Small Gem Loved by the Leaches

Residence for Mr. and Mrs. Walter Leach, 540 Ringwood Ave., Menlo Park, CA.  Built in the early 1960’s for a modest budget, the home had an open design with banks of windows that gave it a light and airy feel.  A small house but hugely appreciated, the Leach’s would say how lucky they were to live in a home where the inside and outside flowed freely and they could be anywhere in the home and look through glass and see from one end of the home and garden to the other.  By the late 1980’s the home had seen several owners and many jerry-built cheap additions.  The original house had pretty much disappeared.  The front of the compound featured abandoned cars and free-range chickens.  With the rise of Silicon Valley, land prices exploded and by early 2000’s the house had been transformed into a McMansion.