Winner's Circle - Page 5

At least two of Meyer's Oakland homes add to their charm with folded plate roofs; one of these is Meyer's own home, which he shared with his family. Another is Julian Goldklang and Desiree Myers' home.

"It's a very cozy place to be because you essentially walk around it," Julian says. "You can traverse the house just by walking around it. It's very easy to move around it. The bathrooms are in the middle of the house. I find it very easy living in it."

The home is also good for light entertaining, he says. "Everything is very low, so you sit on the floor by the fireplace. It's very casual, very late '60s, the whole conversation pit vibe."

Julian, who with Desiree imports vintage furnishings from Denmark for their Berkeley shop Mid Century Mobler, concedes that furnishing a round house can be tricky.

"Because every room is pie-shaped, and every piece of furniture is built rectilinear," he says. "You have to work in an extremely minimal way to make it work with the space." They seek furniture as curvaceous as the house.

Valerie Hayward and her husband, Fred, have owned their Meyer home since 1968. It is a two-story home, and a double—which means two sets of circles. There are two circular living areas on the second floor. Originally the lower area was mostly open space, but it has turned into bedroom, office, and storage space over the years.

After they bought the home, Valerie says, "It was a little scary to walk in, and there was no furniture. How are we going to furnish the house?"

But she and her husband grew to love it, and added a roof deck atop the living area. "It's a fun house. It's great for parties," Valerie says. "There's so much daylight. There is always light." She adds, "It's like living in a tree house. If you look in any direction, you're looking out a window."

A Meyer round house was all about views—not just from one angle, or two, but also from 360 degrees—whether from a hillside lot or flatlands near the water.

In the early 1970s Meyer produced a two-story home for clients on Bethel Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, with the second story offering views of the submerged Franks Tract State Recreation Area.

It was those views that attracted current owners Kara and Jim Johnston. "We look right out at Franks Tract, and we joke with each other that we really live on the edge of the Earth. We see the sea lions every morning. There was a group of pelicans yesterday."

Kara says her home is "a very unique, iconic house for the Delta. Everybody knows 'the Round House.' I've grown up seeing it my whole life."

"People who love them really love them," Jonathan Taylor says of the Meyer round houses. "As a design statement, they've really stood the test of time."

Photography: Ernie Braun, Liz Ruzby, Joshua White, Carlie Galloway, Open Homes Photography, Morley Baer (courtesy Estate of Leon Meyer), Michael Freeman; and courtesy Jonathan Taylor, Julian Goldklang, Valerie and Fred Hayward, Cantwell & Stein Realtors, Hilton & Hyland, Kathleen Stein, Kara Johnston, Einar Johnson, Milford Wayne Donaldson, Oakland Tribune, John Bjorklund