Buff, Straub and Hensman

A historic California mid-century modern home, and one not to be missed, is the Thomas and Barbara Wirick House in Pasadena, currently on the market.

The home was designed in the late 1950s, during the time when USC professor Calvin Straub was about to merge his architectural practice with two of his former students, Conrad Buff III and Donald Hensman, forming the esteemed Pasadena architectural firm of Buff, Straub and Hensman.

The National Register of Historic Places describes the Wirick House as "one of the firm's definitive achievements in residential post-and-beam architecture…a composition of modules woven with lines [framing] and planes [walls]."

Represented by Nate Cole of Modern California House, the property, located at 1617 Pleasant Way in Pasadena, is listed at $2.75 million.

"In that area you can't throw a rock without hitting world-class architecture by Neutra, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Kesling…they're all around," says Cole.

"Interestingly, in the correspondence, Calvin Straub was the designer of the Wirick House," he adds. "Straub hadn't yet formed Buff, Straub and Hensman when first coordinating—it was Straub out on his own."

At 1,744 square feet, the Wirick Home features three bedrooms and two baths, and was built for the Wiricks and their three young children. Entering at the upper level, guests can look out over a double-height living and dining area constructed of minimal structural framing with expanses of glass.

"The home has a beautifully distilled vocabulary," Cole says. "You can really feel the architect, and it is one of my favorite examples of Buff, Straub and Hensman's work. You feel the post-and-beam modernism, and the warmth and influence of Greene & Greene Arts and Crafts [movement]."

"A lot of people comment that the double-height living area and really organized hardscape and garden remind them of the Eames House [in Pacific Palisades]," Cole adds. "The double-height glass wall really has a warmth, and unusual, all-Douglas Fir cabinets in muted colors."

An adjoining office includes a hidden door that leads to a storage area below the carport. Barbara Wirick herself added the home's elevator, which travels to the first floor and carport, accessed via this space. You can also find the primary bedroom suite on this level, opening out to the living room below. A walk-in closet extends into the bathroom via sliding doors.

An interior staircase with clerestory windows leads to the lower level. Here you'll find the heart of the home, an imposing glass-walled living and dining area that looks out to nature and distant views. Beside the fireplace a low-ceilinged alcove offers an intimate area within a wood-and-glass space that can best be described as 'pavilion-like.'