Atherton Architects
Custom Home & Estate Design
Designing a home in Atherton begins with the land. Large properties, mature trees, and deep setbacks create broad, open settings, while also defining a more precise buildable area at the center of each site. A house here is not simply placed. It is positioned with care, shaped by light, views, and the quiet distance between neighbors.
Featured Projects
Highlights
Residential Architects in Atherton
Fergus Garber Architects has designed custom homes and major renovations throughout Atherton, working within this estate setting to create houses that feel settled, private, and lasting. Each project begins with close study of the site: where the heritage oaks stand, how light moves across the property, and what should be revealed on arrival or held back.
In one Atherton residence inspired by the legacy of Bernard Maybeck, a longtime family property was reimagined for a new generation. Select perimeter walls were retained, while the interior was reorganized around a central hall that looks directly through the house to the garden. Heavy timber, layered rafters, cedar shingles, and textured brick give the home a sense of permanence, as though it had always belonged to its setting.
A different approach emerges in a Scandinavian-influenced home, where restraint and proportion guide the design. A long, simple volume sits carefully within the setback lines, with white brick masonry and black steel windows defining a quiet exterior. Mature trees shape both arrival and garden spaces, while inside, a central axis leads to an open living area that extends to the terrace and pool. Light carries the space through the day.
Atherton also rewards thoughtful transformation. In one renovation, a ranch house was reorganized to bring structure and privacy to the site. A new stone wall defines the street edge, while the interior is reoriented around the pool and a series of garden-facing rooms. Circulation becomes clearer, and each bedroom opens to its own portion of the landscape.
Across these projects, material plays a quiet but important role. Roman brick, hand-applied plaster, oak paneling, and steel-framed doors and windows are used with restraint, allowing proportion and light to carry the architecture. Many homes present a more contained expression to the street, opening gradually to the garden where daily life unfolds.
Atherton is not defined by a single style. Within its wooded streets are houses that feel traditional, contemporary, or somewhere in between. What connects them is a shared response to land, scale, and privacy. Our work reflects that range, with a consistent focus on careful siting, clear organization, and homes designed to be lived in over time.