Pasadena mid-century home by Harold Bissner Jr. seeks $3.8M

A Pasadena mid-century modern home by Harold J. Bissner Jr., the prolific architect who famously topped the folded-plate roof of a Dutch-themed coffee shop with a spinning windmill, is on the market for $3.8 million.

Completed in 1960 and recently restored and updated, the single-story wood-and-glass house sits on a nearly half-acre hillside lot. The 4,131-square-foot residence has four bedrooms and five bathrooms.

Records show the current owners bought the house for $1.715 million in May 2015. A year later, they hired Los Angeles-based Design, Bitches to tackle the restoration and system upgrades. New drought-tolerant landscaping by Terremoto, named to Architectural Digest’s AD100 2026 list, complemented the project.

“Rather than overwrite Bissner’s architecture, its latest stewards leaned into it,” the marketing material reads.

The updates preserve the home’s mid-century character while enhancing its indoor-outdoor connection. Double-entry doors flanked by translucent bubble-glass sidelights open into the foyer. Beyond is the living space, where floor-to-ceiling Fleetwood glass sliders extend the inside out to the patio.

An original travertine fireplace wall anchors the living room.

The minimalist kitchen has custom Effeti Cucine cabinetry and integrated Miele and Thermador appliances. It also features a secondary service kitchen and an island with seating for five, offering a more casual alternative to the nearby dining area.

A glass breezeway connects the main living area to the bedroom wing, where the primary suite includes a sunken tub, separate shower and generous-sized walk-in closet.

Other highlights include a gym, a four-car carport with an electric vehicle charging station and a high-tech video security system.

Outside, the naturalistic landscape softens the contours of multiple patios, an inner courtyard that opens to the resurfaced swimmer’s pool and a lighted tennis and pickleball court.

George Penner of Compass holds the listing.

Of course, the home offers a stark contrast to the Googie-style facade Bissner designed for Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakeries. The only survivor is in Arcadia. It opened in 1967 and now operates as a Denny’s restaurant.

Bissner’s other notable works include the 1968 “Volcano House,” a flying saucer-shaped home built atop a 150-foot cinder cone in the Mojave Desert.

The home later belonged to Huell Howser, the producer and host of public TV’s “California’s Gold.” Howser donated it to Chapman University in 2012, just a year before he died. Three years later, the university sold it for $750,000, $100,000 over the asking price.

The architect also designed a South Pasadena hillside multilevel home he shared with his wife, Lela. Bissner died there in March 2020 at 94.