Berkeley, the land of brown shingles and Craftsman homes, has officially taken the mid-century modern style into its fold, with its decision to bestow landmark status on the Donald and Helen Olsen House (above).
The home, a “floating white box” at 771 San Diego Drive, was designed and built by Donald Olsen, a former UC professor, in 1954, and is only the second modernist residence to be landmarked in the city. The first was architect William Wurster’s Jensen Cottage at 1650 La Vereda Road (pictured left).
Berkeley architect and Planning Commissioner James Samuels, who wrote the local landmark application, said of the house, in which the Olsens still live: “It’s just as good today as it was 55 years ago. It’s a testament to the quality of design. It stands out because it didn’t give way to any clichés. It’s an uncompromised design.”
The Landmark Commission indicated it would be looking to honor more mid-century homes in future — homes which, they said, offer a break from “fussy architecture”.
[Photo credits: Olsen House -- James Samuels; Jenson Cottage -- Daniella Thompson.]
Nice. There was a house for sale at 737 San Diego for many months last year or the year before (seller was the former-owner of Cody’s Books), and I drove past this modernist place and found myself more interested in it than the one on offer that we were looking at.
Does this designation limit what the current owners – or future owners – can do with it? I’m not sure I’m a fan of such designations if it does – not a big fan of authorities limiting what one can do with one’s private property. The same goes for the sad little shack on Lombard in san Francisco. If it’s worth saving, then municipalities and/or bands of concerned citizens should ban together an pony-up market-value offers.
Otherwise, I am afraid, I am on the sorry side of titleholders, bulldozers and “progress,” however unfortunate….
[...] that Berkeley has officially embraced modernism, it’s good to see that the city’s guardian angels of architectural preservation are [...]
[...] lives in Berkeley in a house he designed for himself in 1954 on San Diego Drive. His home was landmarked by the city last [...]
[...] is part of a recent trend for the Commission to recognize mid-century buildings. Last March it bestowed landmark status on the 1954 Donald and Helen Olsen House at 771 San Diego Drive, which was only the second time [...]