June 14, 2019 - A Bit of History

“Silver Windows” was a display home in the Piedmont Pines section of Montclair. The house opened for the public to see in 1936. The house was designed by F. Harvey Slocombe. It is on Darby Drive.

Windows, from which one glimpses the bay through lofty pines are not the only feature of this new show home.

Oakland Tribune Dec 06, 1936

Sunlight through “Silver Windows”

Oakland Tribune Dec 13, 1936

From the curved window in the living room, you could see all of Oakland, plus two bridges,

The kitchen, with its floors curving into the wall, eliminating dust-gathering corners was of particular interest to the women visitors. The kitchen was “all-metal” with a gleaming sink, drainboard, work board, and cabinets. Oakland Tribune Mar 19, 1937

Silver Windows Today

2768 Darnby Drive – Piedmont Pines Oakland CA
Google Maps

Silver WIndows
Built-in 1936
F. Harvey Slocombe Architect
Allen & Allen Builders
Mitchell & Austin – Real Estate
Piedmont Pines
2768 Darnby Drive

Links and More:

New Showhome Open to the Public – Oakland Tribune Dec 06, 1936
Interest in Home Holds – Oakland Tribune Dec 20, 1936
Display Home Attracts Many – Oakland Tribune Jan 10, 1937

Updated August 2022

Almost everyone who grew up in Montclair played in the park. The park was always full of kids.

If you visited or played in the park from 1960 to around 1993, you would remember the two-story playhouse. It was built in 1960 and was located by the swing sets.

By 1993 the playhouse was boarded up due to fires and covered with graffiti. It is rumored the fires were caused by teens or someone smoking in the house.

I enjoyed playing in the small playhouse. I would pretend I lived there and that my best friend lived next door.

Built-in 1960

In 1960 the Montclair Junior Women’s Club of Montclair held fundraisers and worked with the Oakland Recreation Department to finance a playhouse for the park in Montclair.

The 120-square-foot playhouse incorporated such features as kitchenettes with running water. toy stoves and refrigerators. Each unit had a living room with a built-in play television set and a circular metal stairway leading up to the sleeping balcony and sundeck.

The structure’s exterior was covered with heavy wire to create the illusion of a closed building. Bright colored squares of orange, yellow, turquoise, and white decorate the front of the playhouse.