Knocking around and about the Oakland Hills, the architecture is as bizarre as it is eclectic. Can’t seem to find any decent historical introduction online, but from what I understand from this article, which you can read here, most of the structures were built after the 1991 fire. What you will find if you go online to look for Oakland Hills and Oakland Hills architecture is are the big gargantuan and high priced things at the top of the hill. Much more interesting is midway up the hillsides where there’s not as much land on which to put a house. Gabled roofs, mission style, California bungalow –the structures have been pushed up close to the narrow streets to maximize the square footage. Part of the charm is that there’s nothing at all like a set style but there is a common sensibility based on scale. From the outside, these look like modest sized structures, small even, as if built for gnomes, bunched in together along narrow winding streets; and the gardens are beautiful.
