The 1971 organic-architecture landmark at 331 Western Drive — designed by Walter Thomas Brooks as his own home, with translucent plastic-panel walls that scatter bay light — is on the market for $899,000. Reports of a prior April 2026 sale find no support in Contra Costa County deed records or MLS data.

The Lumiere House at 331 Western Drive in Point Richmond glows — literally. Architect Walter Thomas Brooks built it in 1971 as his personal residence, skinning its walls in translucent plastic panels that catch the bay light and scatter it inward. A plaque on its fence declares it "the first plastic-shingled house in America." Now it is on the market for $899,000, listed as "Active – Coming Soon" under MLS #41140506 as of July 5, 2026.

Some listing aggregators had flagged a prior sale in April 2026 — variously dated April 10 and April 16 — but public records do not support it. Contra Costa County deed records, searchable through the Clerk-Recorder's RecorderWorks system under Assessor's Parcel Number 076-181030, show no transfer confirming a closed transaction prior to this listing, and MLS data shows no completed sale.

Brooks, whose career archives are held at UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives, conceived the structure as an exercise in organic architecture — a practice that treats the building site as a collaborator rather than a problem to flatten. The Lumiere House tucks into a terraced Bayfront hillside, using the slope for passive thermal regulation rather than a view platform. Inside, inwardly tilting walls and a sunken conversation pit, along with built-in furniture engineered to reclaim every corner of the house's 1,186 square feet, extend the sense of a space that was figured out, not merely assembled.

The "first plastic-shingled house" claim on the fence plaque was reported by San Francisco Chronicle writer Dave Weinstein; a 2006 Berkeley Architecture Heritage Association walking tour of Point Richmond independently documented it. Whether the claim holds up to strict historical scrutiny — no building permit or manufacturer record has surfaced to corroborate it — depends on what threshold you apply to the word "first," a category notoriously resistant to proof. The house nonetheless drew national coverage: it appeared in Dwell magazine's inaugural October 2000 issue and was also featured in Fine Homebuilding, Sunset Magazine, and Newsweek.

At $899,000 for 1,186 square feet — roughly $759 per square foot — the listing finds a narrow market even by Bay Area standards. The buyer gets the bay light, the conversation pit, and a building documented in four national publications; they also get the inwardly tilting walls, which make any standard renovation a structural negotiation. The plaque on the fence comes with it.