We’ve talked before about the nearly cult-like fascination some people have with A-frame homes, spurred in large part by the muscular simplicity of their design and their association with remote NorCal locations, American post-war prosperity, and 20th century nostalgia.

But not every home of a certain style has to fit the formula: In the case of 44 Shelley Drive in Mill Valley, the conceit seems to be what if we took the A-frame design and cranked it up to 11?

This is an A-frame of seemingly titanic proportions, cramming four beds, two baths, and over 1,800 square feet of space beneath its steepled roof. The result does sacrifice some of the Spartan simplicity of smaller and perhaps more traditional A-frame homes, but at the same time, there is a singular appeal in the scale of it.

A 2020 edition of the Architect’s Newspaper notes that not too long ago A-frames were “dismissed as outmoded, inefficient, and grandparent-y relics of a bygone era, and widely abandoned in favor of resort communities and timeshare condominiums.”

Indeed, the very thing that makes such homes popular with enthusiasts now is what made them seem anachronistic a few years back: They were too closely associated with design trends of 60 years ago or more. The difference between being outdated or appealingly vintage can be less than a single generation.

This 1964 setup is for sale, offered at $1.15 million for anyone whose interest is sufficiently “peaked.” The last time this place sold was in 1998 for about $347,000, or around $582,000 in modern currency; what might have been.

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