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Nestled in the hills of Berkeley, CA, is a modernist surprise: the Donald and Helen Olsen House. On the market for the first time, this three-bedroom, 2.5-bath gem in the North Berkeley neighborhood is listed for $1,795,000.
Architect Donald Olsen built this home in 1954 and lived in it with his family until his death in 2015.
“It was very innovative for the time,” says Bebe McRae, who has the listing along with Crosby Doe of Crosby Doe Associates. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a City of Berkeley Historic Landmark.
According to the National Register of Historic Places, “The house’s design is specifically the International style popularized in Europe by architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier. The Olsen House displays the geometries, ethos, strict formalism, and rigor that embody this utopian style.”
Located up on a slope, it was originally constructed to take in San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge views, which are now obscured by mature trees in the park across the street. Over the years, the home transitioned into a modernist treehouse—open yet secluded.
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McRae says the home was considered nonconforming for the area 60 years ago, but it has since come into its own. We attribute the home’s well-maintained modernism to the architect living in the home, continuing to change the home as the years ticked by.
Olsen added a lower-level artist studio for his wife, Helen. For the next owner, the space could be a home office or guest room.
With the bathrooms and staircase situated in the middle of the home, the design allows for walls of glass, an open floor plan, and “an open feeling,” says McRae. The property features a striking mural in the entry by artist Claire Falkenstein.
Liz Rusby
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The home has three beds, three baths, and a deck. The updated kitchen has three sliding panels that can be closed to create a formal space for a dinner party.
“There are so many ways by which lighting and spaces themselves are quite unusual and give a unique experience,” McRae says. “There’s an elegance to the simplicity. It’s very contained and comfortable and very bright and open.”
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