The Donald and Helen Olsen House, in Berkeley, California, was built in 1954. (26 pages, with multiple photos) It is a Modernist,

International-style International style may refer to: * International Style (architecture), the early 20th century modern movement in architecture *International style (art), the International Gothic style in medieval art *International Style (dancing), a term used in ...

house designed by architect Donald Olsen. Olsen is a native of Minnesota who studied under Walter Gropius at Harvard and established an architecture practice in Berkeley in 1953. The house is situated on a slope in the North Berkeley Hills near John Hinkel Park. The structure's main floor was built above ground level to maximize the site's views of

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

and the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

. However, the view has been obscured over the years by the growth of mature trees on the property. The National Park Service described the house's style as follows: "The house's design is specifically the International style popularized in Europe by architects

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

, Walter Gropius, and

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

. The Olsen House displays the geometries, ethos, strict formalism and rigor that embody this utopian style." The house also includes a mural by artist Claire Falkenstein. The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 2010. The listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of October 8, 2010. In its write-up, the Park Service called Olsen "an important mid-20th-century Bay Area architect."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Donald and Helen, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Houses in Alameda County, California National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley, California Berkeley landmarks in Berkeley, California